v*- mf ^/i 



>.^'yi 




K ^y 



4 



A 




.;;i 









a*','j v^ .^ ^^\f^^^-^iik^:^ 



A CRO^/VN 



— FOR — 



OUR QUEEN 



Ave Maria—gratia plena 

Dominus tecum,— 
Benedicta tu in mulieribus 

Et t)enedictus fructus vestris tui Jesus. 



By REY. ABHAM J. RYAH. 




baltimoe: 

PUBLISHED BY JOHN B. PIET & CO. 
No. 174 West Baltimore Street 

1882. 






Copyright Secured, 1S82. 



OB OM6RI88 



J.M.J. 



TO THE CHILDREN OF MARY, 

of 

The Cathedkal, 

of 
The Immaculate Coxceptiok, 

mobile, alabama, 

IK MEMORY 

Of happy Years of thek Spiritual Direction, 

IN gratitude 
For their many kindnesses, known and unlvnown, 

AND AS A PUBLIC TESTIMONY 

To the Virtues 

Which made their Sodality 

The Fairest Flower 

Of one of the most edifying Congregations in the South, 

This Book 

IS AFFECTIONA TEL Y UEDICA TEI> 

By its Author, 

ABRAM J. RYAX 

BiLOXi, Miss., Ascension Thursday, 1882. 

(iii) 



PREFACE. 



This book was intended as a '- Moistth of Maey/'' 
It would have been published a few months ago had it 
not been for the illness of the author. However, better 
late than never, and by the clients of Mary it may be 
made to suit any month in the year. 

At the suggestion of a child of Mary, its title is " A 
Ckowk por Our Queejst," in which the author has 
tried to intertwine his own humble thoughts and the 
remembered ideas of others w^ith the holy truths of 
faith regarding Mary's place in the plans of God. Would 
that the crown were worthier of our Queen ! 

The book substantially contains, in enlarged form, a 
a series of instructions given every Sunday evening, for 
several years, to the Children of Mary, of the Cathedral 
of Mobile, Alabama. Indeed, it belongs to them as 
much as it does to the author. They inspired it — he 
only wrote it. 

The book closes with some simple little legends pub- 
lished in French, with the approbation of the Bishop of 
Limoges, and kindly translated by a Child of Mary. 
The book is dogmatic as well as devotional, for what is 
devotion but the blooming and blossoming and fruitage 
of dogma ? If it leads a single soul, through Mary, to 
Jesus, the author will feel that his humble work has 
God's blessing. He asks for nothing more. 

In a work on the Grandeurs of Mary written by 

(iv) 



PREFACE. V 

Father D'Argentan, a Capuchin monk of the last cen- 
tury, the author of this book found and used many 
beautiful thoughts. But if there be a single sentence 
in this work which is not in perfect accord with Faith 
and Faith's authoritative expressions — that sentence is 
here and in advance condemned and repudiated by the 
author. 

A. J. HYAK. 




COKTEHTS 



Page. 

Inthoduction viii 

The Immaculate Conception xviii 

FiBST Day— -The Flower of Marj^^s Predestination (First 
Part) 1 

Second Day— The Flower of Mary's Predestination 

(Second Part) 7 

Thibd Day— The Flower of the Promise (First Part) 15 

FoUKTH Day— The Flower of the Promise (Second Part) 22 
Fifth Day— The Flower of the Immaculate Conception 
(First Part) 29 

Sixth Day— The Flower of the Immaculate Conception 
(Second Part)... 43 

Seventh Day— The Flower of the Birth 5G 

EIGHTH Day— The Flower of the Name G7 

Kinth Day— The Flower of the Tow 79 

Tenth Day— The Flower of the Espousals 92 

Elkv^enth Day — The Flower of the Annunciation.. 105 

Twelfth Day— The Flovrer of the Consent 115 

ThIBTeenth Day— The Flower of the Visitation 122 

Fourteenth Day— The Flower of the Fear 128 

Fifteenth Day— The Flower of the Flight 137 

Sixteenth Day— The Flower of the Midnight of Mercy.. 142 

Seventeenth Day— The Star in the East.** *.....149 

Eighteenth Day— The Flower of the Purification* 155 

:N'ineteenth Day— The Flower of Sorrow and Joy 160 

Twentieth Day— The Flower of the Wedding-feast*- -168 

(vi) 



COZ^TENTS. Vli 

Page 
TWENTY-FIKST DAY— The Flower of Mary's Martyrdom 
(First Part) 173 

Twenty-second Day— The Flower of Mary's Martyr- 
dom (Second Part) 180 

Twenty-third Day— The Flower of Mary's Martyrdom 
(Third Part) , 187 

Twenty- FOUBTii Day— The Flower of the Glory of the 
Kesurrection .,. 195 

Twenty-fifth Day— The Flower of the Glory of the 
Ascension.. 201 

TWENTY-SIXTH Day— The Flower of tlie Glory of Mary 
on Pentecost , 209 

Twenty-seventh Day— The Flower of the Joy of 
Mary's Death 215 

Twenty-Eighth Day— Flower of the Glory of Mary's 
Coronation in Heaven... , 221 

Twenty-ninth Day— The Flower of Mary's Inter- 
cession 228 

Thirtieth DAY—The Flower of Mary's Glory in the 
Church 235 

Thirty-first Day— The Flower of Catholic Devotion 
to Mary 242 

Legends , 251-27(5 



IHTHODUCTIOK 



Shall we say it? Why not? We might as well, 
and we must, for it is tm alarming fact which, though 
seen of all, seems to alai'm but a few, and these few the 
watchers on the towers of truth. The humble spirit of 
Christian faith is on the wane everywhere around us, 
while the proud spirit of human reason is waxing strong 
witli a giant's strength, gaming the force which faith 
seems to be losing. Keal strength ? Not at all. 'Tis 
only a seemmg strength, the effect of falsehood's stimu- 
lants, for falsehood is a stimulant, while truth is food. 
That strength will not last, but the harm it is doing 
may and will. A servant may don the royal robes of 
his master, but he is not therefore king* 

So falsehood, or if you will, knowledge without faith 
(they often look and speak alike, as if they were akin), 
may wear a kingly mantle and crown, and wield a 
sceptre of authority, and command the fealty which is 
the right of faith alone; and many may kneel down 
before the usurper's throne with the tender of their 
homage; yet none the less, whether they know it or not, 
are they committing an act of high treason against the 
majesty of truth, the while they are violating the spiritual 
laws of their being and betraying the sacred honor of 
their own reason ; for the weakening of faith is a sign 
of the weakening of reason. 

(Viil) 



IKTRODUCTIOi^. , ix 

Kevelation accepted by faith is the coronation of 
reason, Eevelation rejected for mere human knowledge 
IS reason's enslavement. 

Our age possesses (and sooth to say in boastfulness) 
the gift of pens and of tongues, and of words and of 
notions, and of guesses and of theories, but it does not 
possess the gift of true thought. 13y our age, we mean 
the children of this generation, *^ who are wiser in their 
day than the children of light.'^ It is a talking and not a 
thinking generation. It has a superficial smartness in 
its own sphere — intelligent, perhaps, as the word goes, 
but not intellectual. It chatters — that, and nothing 
more. To the supernatural it says, " No, begone, I deny 
and reject you.^^ A few men stand apart from the chat- 
terers who teach them the glory of saying No to any- 
thing beyond the limits of their senses and the reach of 
their comprehension. 

These are the philosophers. They are hailed as 
the liberators of the human mind, and when they 
die they are buried in Westminsters. They are 
crowned with laurel, and not with thorns, for their 
theories. They have no Calvary nor Cross; and it so 
happens, when they die their graves do not open nor do 
they rise again. The philosophers are quite difierent 
from Christ. They teach, and what ? The novel and 
the uncertain. The uncertain takes with the thought- 
less. There is a strange fascination about it. It is a new 
face with a vague beauty. It charms — :o does the 
serpent. 

To the dear old familiar features of truth men grow 
indifi'erent. With their knowledge they will ^' become 
like God.'^ 'Tis the old temptation of Eden over again. 
God's word they reject for the serpent's word ; divide 



X IISrTRODUCTION. 

faith for hamaa knowledge, so called. Tis a new 
beauty. It wins recognition, loyalty, love. The olden 
beauty, truth, must retire. She wears the veil of laitli. 
Knowledge, less modest, wears no veil at all. She has 
a terribly earthly face, fit for sensuous but not for 
spiritual eyes. Has faith, veiled truth, lost a single one 
of her charms ? Not at all. She cannot. Her's is the 
half-seen beauty of God, She is the same as ever she 
was. with a beauty not of earth. 

There is something wrong and wanting elsewhere. 
Where? In the eyes of men's souls. Why? They are 
growing blind. Why, again? The planets of false 
Jknowledge are crossing the disk of the sun of truth. 
'Tis dim up there and it is dark down here. So they 
grope, and creep and crawl; not man like nor reason like, 
and they no longer walk straight on and upright, with 
the light of eternity on their lifted brow, for to tliem 
the eclipse of truth is total — and they call darkness 
hght. They desire tis (how kind and considerate they 
are!) to give up our faith's certainties for their guesses. 
They wish us to abandon our truths as the vain dreams 
of an eflfete superstition, and to accept their fickle dreams 
as truths undoubted ; and many do. They abandon the 
truths of revelation, fling away their faith, and they 
become slaves or dupes of human credulity. They give 
up Christ for the philosophers. There is no room for 
Christ in their syllogisms, and so they thrust him away. 
Well, there was no room for Him, of old, m Bethlehem. 
But somehow His stable still remains with the Gloria 
in Excelsis above it. Thitherward, in ceaseless pilgrim- 
age, go the children of light to pray and to adore. 
Philosophers! that stable is too much for you* It 
stands; — your syllogisms pass away. 



INTRODUCTION. ^l 

Nature's and Supernatiire's God was made visible to the 
world, in human nature, in that stable. The Super- 
nature you deny. At its wonders you superciliously 
smile> Yourselves mysteries to your own very selves, 
you scoff at mysteries. Nature is your temple, you the 
self-ordamed priests. Weil, priests ! listen. Are there 
not tabernacles in natures temple closed against you? 
You come to the gates, but they are JocKed and you 
have not the key. Has not nature's temple a Holy of 
Holies, where dwell the mysterious powers of creation? 
And you cannot enter there, facts and phenomena 
broider the mysterious veil which hangs before it. The 
broidery you may show, but you cannot litt the veil. 

Your motto is: ** We reason and we know/' But do 
you reason right ? Where is the reason lying back of 
your first reasoning ? Only in your own brain V Then 
you only make a rope of £and. And how much do you 
know? Are not the primary elements in nature beyond 
the reach of your chemistry ? And if this be true, as it 
IS, of mere material nature, then what of human nature V 

One of your school writes a work on the ** Descent of 
Man/' Unwittingly he uses the proper word, "descent." 
Yes, we (and we know and feel it) descend from some- 
thing, some one higher, from God himself. And the 
philosopher substitutes for the glorious truth of man's 
descent from God, his theory of man's ascent from 
heaven knows where, m the world that lies beneath us. 
Error is forced to be logical in order to be self -con- 
sistent. Put aside God s creative act, and the truth and 
high honor of i't, and necessarily the honor of man's 
origin suffers detriment. God lost, in false logic, all is 
lost m reason s life, not only God's but man's honor. 

Now God visibly comes before us m human form and 



xii ixiRODUCiio:sr. 

nature in the Christ — the man— the God; through real 
birth from a real human mother — Mary. His mother 
denied, Christ is denied ; that is the real, true Christ of 
God's Scriptures and Man's history. He denied, God is 
denied. What then ? Chaos, darkness, and this life is a 
horror. Not so cry out the children of light and faith and 
hope Christ is the key of every mystery. As man, he 
toucned every human question, and as God he gave to each 
question lull, absolute, infinite answer. Beside flim, as 
man, stands His mother , beside Him, as God, stands the 
Eternal Father , beside Him, as Man- God, stand Mary 
and the Father. Christ is not a philosopher, He is 
eternal wisdom. He is not a scientist, but He is a 
Saviour. He is not a mere reasoner^ He is a Redeemer, 
and being that, He is the real reason of all things; and 
He is the fact which touches with light every fact of 
human history. And not only that, He is the Truths 
away and apart from which all else is false. And not 
only that, He is the Life^ outside of which stretches the 
land of death, 

Philosophers 1 you give us dead words. The canker 
worm of hopelessness is withm all. The human race is 
against you. It must believe and hope and love some- 
thing, and some one above, beyond this earth— God- 
He stands revealed m Jesus Christ, and Him born of a 
woman of the race. Jesus Christ is the living answer 
to all the mysteries of man s nature and man's history, 

Scientists need Christ, the Word, the Wisdom^ the 
Alpha and Omega, the Principle and the End, to give 
true light that enlightens minds to every question con- 
nected with nature — else science is a darkness. But what 
of Christians ? Jesus Christ and Mary, His mother, 
are the living answers to all the questions that touch 



IXTBODUCTIOi^. XUl 

human nature in its spiritual history; that is, they 
begin the answer asked and needed by faith and hope 
and love, which the Church continues to give forever, 
to all generations. 

Any other answer is false. Christ alone, His mother 
apart, is not the full answer. He and she, in the Chris- 
tian order, stand first, and together. After them come 
the apostles, evangelists, the Church, with all her won- 
drous prerogatives. One by one apostles and evange- 
lists pass away, leaving successors. Jesus and Mary 
have no successors. The Church remains forever, and 
speaks to the world each day two names, first names, 
Jesus and Mary, and they will be the last names of 
human history. They give revelation and redemption 
their full meaning. Revelation's truths are announced 
to lis, and the merits of redemption are applied to us 
by the Church of Jesus Christ — His Church and no 
other. 

When reason meets the Church and hears her voice 
she has but one of four acts to make : 

First — I believe all truth on the word of God, who 
can neither deceive nor be deceived, authoritatively an- 
nounced by the Church of Christ, which, because His 
Church, can never err nor lead to error. This act 
honors reason by honoring God, and honors Christ by 
honoring His Church with absolute obedience. It is 
the Catholic act with an infinite trust and courage in it. 

Second — " I deny all.'' It is the dark, defiant act of 
the infidel. It is the absolute No hurled at revelation. 
It degrades reason by denying Christ. It is worse than 
Satanic, for the demons believe all and tremble. In hell 
there are no infidel demons. Fallen angels are innocent 
of the guilt of infidelity to doctrine. The crime and its 



XIV IKTRODUCTIOI^. 

dishonor are found only among fallen images of God on 
earth. 

Third — "1 doubt/' It is the act of the sceptic, 
halting, hesitating in the presence of the incompre- 
hensible truth, and is an act of craven cowardice. 

Fourth — "1 protest." It is an act of reason, con- 
sciously or unconsciously compromising, where com- 
promise is secret or overt treason to truth. It is an 
act of weakness unworthy of reason. The act of the 
weak compromise ''I protest," leads to the act of the 
coward "1 doubt," and the act of the coward leads 
straight into the darkness of the infidels, *^ I deny all.'' 

"I believe all that the Church teaches,-' the Eoman 
Catholic act, is the only act of faith which reason can 
make without debasement, which the free-will can pro- 
claim, crowning itself thereby with the unspeakable 
honor of union with God's will, and which the heart 
can approve, for the peace and the hope and the glory 
of it. It is the only act of faith commensurate with all 
revelation, the only act worthy of man and worthy of 
God, the only act that reaches round all truth, the only 
act that touches that throne in the heavens, where faith 
will melt into vision. It is the everlasting act of the 
Holy Church in which each of her countless children 
has personal share. It ascends to heaven ceaselessly in 
a thousand thousand beautiful forms. It goes up from 
the hearts of the innumerable children of Christ's 
faithful family. Christ's family? Yes. "We are His 
younger brothers and sisters by the adoption of grace. 
In that family, His mother by nature is ours by grace, 
and, therefore, next to Him, she holds and must for- 
ever hold highest place. 

"We have not a motherless Christ, neither have we a 



IKTRODUCTIOiH'. XV 

motherless Church. What she was to Him she is to 
His Church, and to each one a mother by adoption. He 
gave her to us and us to her on Calvary, and He has 
never taken her away from us, for He never repents of 
His gifts. 

Hence, in our Holy Church she is the Queen-mother. 
She has the heart of the mother and she wears the 
crown of the queen. In other churches she is nothing 
but a name. She was more than a name to Christ. In 
our Church she is herself, her very self, with all her 
powers and privileges. In other churches even her 
name is seldom mentioned, and then sometimes m tones 
that are cold and indifferent. In the Church of her Son, 
her name is one of power, sweetness, hope, tenderness, 
held m honor next to Christ's own adorable name ; the 
very sound of the name of Mary forever thrills the hearts 
of the children of the Church with the sweetest truth in 
all creation — God has a mother. Out of that little sen- 
tence, as out of a perennial fountain, flows forever the 
stream of the precious blood of man's redemption ; and 
out of that sentence floats murmured forever, in every 
crimson ripple of the saving stream, the beautiful truth 
— God's mother is ours. 

The book here presented to those who may please to 
read its pages, is an humble attempt to set before their 
mmds these two truths and their necessary mutual rela- 
tions. It is an age of novels and novel readers. What 
novel can compare in fascinating interest with the New 
Testament? What romance is like the romance of 
God's eternal love revealed in Jesus, born of Mary? 
What drama like the drama of our redemption consum- 
mated on Calvary with Christ dying on His cross and 
His mother standing beneath it ? What poetry so sweet, 



XVi IXTEODUCTIOJ^. 

sublime, pathetic and glorious as tlie poetry of Bethle- 
liam, Nazareth, Calvary, the riven Graye and Mount 
Olivet ? 

But alas! the divine scriptures yield before mere 
human writings. God's words, Christ's history, have 
lost their charm and interest. They are too serious for a 
thoughtless generation. Tales of human loves have 
taken the place of the wonderous story of God's eternal 
love, all of which manifestly proves the weakening of 
faith. Outside of the Church, where the beautiful 
Christ is only half- known, we do not wonder if the 
human supersedes the divine and the natural takes the 
precedence of the supernatural. But in Christ's Holy 
Church, alas, we must wonder if such things be; and 
such things are. 'Tis sad to say it, and sadder still to 
know that it is but too true. How many Catholics read 
the word of God ? And yet the Church (though it is 
falsely denied by her enemies) recommends its perusal, 
not as necessary, but as useful and edifying. How many 
Catholics read the lives of the saints, the members of 
their own spiritual family ? The stories of the world's 
heroes attract; the lives of the heroes of grace are too 
dry and uninteresting. Ah! the priests know this 
encroachment of this world's unfaith in the realms of 
Christ's kingdom. They contend against it with all the 
might of their zeal, sometimes successfully, but often, 
alas, with little or no success. And is it to be wondered 
at if children inherit the uncatholic tastes of their 
Catholic parents ? 

Dime novels, periodicals of marked immorality, weekly 
newspapers, with stories wherein crime is justified, 
romances where passion is apotheosized, poetries which 
are pagan in conception and sentiment^ are not these, 



INTRODUCTIOK. Xvll 

and such like works, found and read in Catholic homes 
all over the land ? Alas, and yes. And the conse- 
quence ? We know some, God knows more. 

Books of piety are too seldom found in Catholic 
hands. The Church advises, entreats, pleads. The 
loving children and the loyal listen and obey. The 
Church goes farther, and puts her ban on books with 
danger in them to faith and morals, and still too 
many heed not her prohibitions. 'Tis to their own cost 
and at their own spiritual peril. Now out of the Church 
and in the Church, our wild, unruly age needs the 
strong, true Christ, to restrain its lawless will and to 
enlighten its darkening mind. The age, like Herod, 
has banished Christ into exile. No wonder it is in the 
dark when its light is gone. Ah ! if the world would 
only pray "Hail full of grace, the Lord is with 
thee!" Exiled by this world. His mother exiled from 
human churches, Jesus and Mary — Mary and Jesus, 
together in our Holy Church, would hear the prayer of 
this generation, and from its sanctuary would bless this 
agitated age with the peace of the perfect and beautiful 
faith. 



The IHMICULITE COICEPTIOH. 



Fell the snow on the Festival's vigil 

And surpliced the city in white. 
I wonder who wove the pure flakelets ? 

Ask the Virgin— or God— or the !N"ight, 

It fitted the Feast : 'twas a symbol, 
And earth wore the surplice at morn, 

As pure as the vale's stainless lily 
For Mary the sinlessly born, 

For Mary, conceived in all sinlessness* 
And the sun, thro' the clouds of the East^ 

With the brightest and fairest of flashes, 
Fringed the Sui-plice of White for the Feast. 

And round the horizon hung cloudlets, 
Pure Stoles to be worn by the Feast ; 

While the earth and the heavens were waiting 
For the beautiful Mass of the Priest. 

I opened my window, half dreaming. 

My soul went away from my eyes. 
And my heart began saying '' Hail Marys," 

Somewhere up in the beautiful skies, 

Where the shadows of sin never rested ; 

And the angels were waiting to hear 
The prayer that ascends with "Our Father," 

And keeps hearts and the heavens so near. 

(xviii) 



THE IMMACULATE COiTCEPTION. XIX 

And all the day long, — can you blame me ? 

''Hail Mary," " Our Father," I said. 
And I think that the Christ and His Mother 

Were glad of the way that I prayed. 

And I think that the great, bright Archangel 

Was listening all the day long 
For the echo of every "Hail Mary" 

That soared thro' the skies, like a song, — 

From the hearts of the true and the faithful, 

In accents of joy or of woe, 
Who kissed in their faith and their fervor 

The Festival's Surplice of snow* 

I listened, and each passing minute, 

I heard in the lands far away 
'' Hail Mary," "Our Father," and near me 

I heard all who knelt down to pray 

Pray the same as I prayed, and the angel, 
And the same as the Christ of our love — 

"Our Father," " Hail Mary," " Our Father"— 
Winging just the same sweet flight above. 

Passed the morning, the noon : came the Even, 

The temple of Christ w^as aflame 
With the halo of lights on three altars, 

And one wore his ow^n Mother's name. 

Her statue stood there ; and around it 
Shone the symbolic stars. Was their gleam 

And the flow'rets that fragranced her altar, 
Were ihey only the dream of a dream ? 

Or Were they sweet signs to my vision 

Of a Truth far beyond mortal ken, 
i'hat the Mother had rights in the templd 

Of Him she had given to men. 



XX THE IMMACULATE COKCEPTIOK. 

Was it wronging her Christ-son, I wonder, 
For the Christian to honor her so ? 

Ought her statue pass out of His temple ? 
Ask the Feast in its Surplice of snow. 

Ah, me ! had the pure flakelets voices, 
I know what their white lips would say, 

And I know that the lights on her altar 
Would pray with me, if they could pray. 

Me thinks that the flowers that were fading. 
Sweet virgins that die with the Feast 

Like martyrs upon her fair altar. 
If they could, they would pray with the Priest, 

And would murmur ''Our Father, '' Hail Mary," 
Till they drooped on the altar, in death 

And be glad in their dying for giving 
To Mary their last sweetest breath. 

Passed the day as a poem that passes 
Through the poet's heart's sweetest of strings ; 

Moved the minutes from Masses to Masses — 
Did I hear a faint sound as of winofs. 



o 



Bustling over the aisles and the altars ? 

Did they go to her altar and pray ? 
Or was my heart only a-dreaming 

At the close of the Festival-day ? 

Quiet throngs came into the temple, 
As still as the flowers at her feet. 

And wherever they knelt, they were gazing 
Where the statue looked smiling and sweet. 

"Our Fathers," " Hail Mary's" were blended 

In a pure and a perfect accord, 
And passed by the beautiful Mothc 

To fall at the feet of our Lord. 



THE IMMACULATE COKCEPTIOK. XXI 

Low-toned from the hearts of a thousand 
'' Our Fathers," '' Hail Marys " swept on 
To the star-wreathed statue. I wonder 

Did they wrong the great name of Her Son, 

Her Son and our Saviour— -I wonder 
How He heard our '^ Hail Marys" that night? 

"Were the words to Him sweet as the music 
They once were, and did we pray right ? 

Or was it all wrong ? — will He punish 

Our lips if we make them the home 
Of the words of the great, high Archange 

That won Him to sinners to come? 

Ah, me ! does He blame my own mother, 

Who taught me a child at her knee, 
To say, with '' Our Father," '' Hail Mary " ? 

If 'tis wrong, my Christ ! punish but me. 

Let my mother, oh, Jesus ! be blameless ; 

Let me suffer for her if you blame. 
Her pure mother's heart kncAV no better 

When she taught me to love the pure name. 

Oh, Christ ! of Thy beautiful Mother 
Must I hide her name down in my heart ? 

But ah ! even there you will see it — 
With Thy Mother's name how can I part ? 

On thy Js'ame all divine have I rested 
In the days when my heart-trials came — 

Sweet Christ, like to Thee I am human, 
And I need Mary's pure human name. 

Bid I hear a voice ? or w^as I dreaming ? 

I heard—or I sure seemed to hear — 
*' Who blames you for loving my Mother 

Is WTonging my heart—do not fear. 



XXU THE IMMACULATE COXCEPTIO::sr. 

• 
" I am human e'en here in my heavens, 

What I was I am still all the same, 

And I still love my beautif al Mother, — 

And thou, Priest of mine do the same.' 

I was happy— because I am human — 
And Christ in the silences heard 

''Our Father," ''Hail Mary," "Oar Father" 
Murmured faithfully word after word. 



Swept the beautiful " O Salutaris " 
Down the aisles — did the starred statue stir ? 

Or was my heart only a-dreaming 
When it turned from her statue and her ? 

The door of a white tabernacle 

Felt the touch of the hand of the Priest ; 
Did he waken the Host from its slumbers 

To come forth and crown the high Feast? 

To come forth so strangely and silent, 

And just for a sweet little while. 
And then to go back to its prison. 

Thro' the stars did the sweet statue smile ? 



I knew not, but Mary, the Mother, 

I think almost envied the Priest, 
He was taking her place at the altar, — 

Did she dream of the days in the East? 

When her hands, and her's only, held Him 
Her Child, in His waking and rest. 

Who had strayed in a love that seemed wayward 
This eve to this shrine in the West. 



THE IMMACULATE COKCEPTIOK. xxiii 

Did she dream of the straw of the manger 
When she gazed on the altar's pure white ? 

Did she fear for her Son any danger 
In the little Host, helpless that night ? 

JS'o, no ! she is trustful as He is ; 

■\Vliat a teriible trust in our race ! 
The Divine has still faith in the Human — 

What a story of infinite grace ! 

"Tantum Ergo," high hymn of the altar. 

That came from the heart of a saint, 
Swept triumph-toned all through the temple. 

Did my ears hear the sound of a plaint ? 

'Xeath the glorious roll of the singing 

To the temple had sorrow crept in? 
Or was it the moan of a sinner ? 

Oh ! Beautiful Host, wilt thou win 

In thy little half-hour's Benediction 

The heart of a sinner again? 
And, merciful Christ, Thou wilt comfort 

The sorrow that brings Thee its pain. 

Came a hush, and the Host was uplifted, 
And It made just the sign of the Cross 

O'er the low bended brows of the people. 
Oh, Host of the Holy, thy loss 

To the altar and temple and people 
Would make this world darkest of night ; 

And our hearts would grope blindly on through it, 
For our love w^ould have lost all its light. 

''Laudate," what thrilling of triumph ! 

Our souls soared to God on each tone, 
And the Host went again to its prison, 

For our Christ fears to leave us alone. 



XXIV THE IMMACULATE COKCEPTIOX. 

Blessed Priest ! strange thou art His jailor, 

Thy hand holds the beautiful li:ey 
That locks in His prison love's Captive, 

And keeps Him in fetters for me. 

5|C 0^ ^C Sj^ J|C PjC JJC 7j^ 

'Twas over— I gazed on the statue, 
*' Our Father," *' Hail Mary," still came, 

And to-night Faith and Love cannot help it, 
I must still pray the same, still the same. 

— Writttn at Loyola College on the night of Dec, 8, 1880, 




FIRST DAY. 



Wat iSmn 0f P^raV ^U(lwtin^ti0tt* 



FIRST PART. 



** The Lord possessed me In the beginning of His ways, before He 
made anything, from the beginning. I was set up from eternity, and of 
old, before the earth was made."— /'^'m;., vili. 

Holy Mary's month, everywhere with graces 
blessed, and in our sunny land bright with bloom of 
countless flowers begins to-day. Let us leave the day 
of earth whose light is shining like a halo of heaven on 
her altar, just a little while, to pass across all the days 
of the Mays of the past, and go back to the unbegin- 
ning. Not by reason's light, for, indeed, it is too dim 
and uncertain, and it is too faint to guide us, for it 
flickers. Not with the feet of reason, for they too often 
go astray, nor are they strong enough to climb the slopes 
that rise to the inaccessible heights where dwelleth in 
glory the infinite God. 

We of the Holy Church, by God's sw^eet grace in 
sacraments received and from grand doctrines reflected, 
have another light, better by far — clear, steady, certain, 
unfailing — divine Faith. 

This light, which "enlightens every man who cometh 
into this world " (though many there are who will not 
see its shining), cometh down to us from the bosom of 
God, and knoweth the way back to its home in the 
heavens. Let it lead us there to-day. And Faith hath 

(1) 



2 A CROWi^ FOE OUE QUEEI?-. 

wings to soar to the highest, while reason, left to itself, 
hath only feet to walk the ways of this valley of shadows 
and tears ; and so on the wings of Faith, and by Faith's 
pure light guided, we will ascend to the eternities and 
enter, with worship in our hearts, the very Holy of 
Holies of God's divine Will, where hidden, until revealed 
in God's determined days, all the great decrees, vocations 
and predestinations are shrined waiting for their accom- 
plishment in time. 

There, in the very temple of the Trinity, we will find 
to-day the first flower for the Crown of our Queen 
— Mary's eternal predestination. And just as by the 
rays which the sun sends down to earth we lift our eyes 
aloft to seek the central source of light, but in looking we 
are dazzled, and but dimly see its splendors; so by the 
light of Faith which comes to us from heaven, we look 
up to its divine brightness, and we see surely, but only 
dimly the mysteries shining in and from it. We see in 
part but not in whole, with imperfect sight, but if the 
little that we do see be so wondrous, what must be the 
wonder of it all when seen by perfect sight ? 

Here below we apprehend by Faith what reason can- 
not comprehend. Human philosophy cannot compre- 
hend the mysteries of man, nor can science comprehend 
the mysteries of this earth, and yet they accept them as 
facts of knowledge; and that same philosophy mocks 
the mind which, without comprehending, believes in 
the mysteries of God, and accepts them as truths of 
faith. Their motto is "Knowledge" — and that know- 
ledge is but little better than a guess. Our motto is 
"Faith" — and our faith is a certainty. 

Only in the Holy Catholic Church, where Faith is 
pure and truth is whole and guidance sure, can we rise 



FLOWER OF MARY'S PREDESTIiq'ATIO:N'. 3 

to the contemplation of the eternal truths and approach, 
with reverence and understanding, finite yet certain, the 
mysteries of God and man in heaven and on earth, as 
we do now. 

Whatever was, is, or ever shall be, existed in a true 
sense in the mind of God from all eternity. Angels 
and men, heaven and earth, all creations were always in 
his thoughts. From the unbeginning, God, by volun- 
tary decree, determined to create. Why ? " Who hath 
been his counsellor ? ^ Himself. 

Deepest in the infinite life of God lives the principle 
of love. " God is love,'' wrote the evangelist of love, to 
whose care the dying Christ left his sorrowful mother. 
Did she tell him, I wonder, how to phrase his inspired 
thought ? The law of love is to give. It governs God's 
images on earth, and it governs Him (we speak 
humanly) in His heavens. 

The law of the highest love is to give the greatest 
gifts. The greatest gift is life — and greater still, life 
with intelligence and immortality. In God's mind all 
creations existed — not ore, but man v. Who in His 
mind is the first born of all creation? Who the first 
fruits of all creation? Jesus Christ. All creations 
were to revolve for grace and light around the future 
Christ, like stars around the sun. There came a day in 
heaven's history when God's will, moved by the power 
of infinite love, pronounced the first Fiat; and lo! the 
great throne was surrounded by spirits innumerable, 
into nine choirs divided, bright, beautiful and glorious, 
and God was glad. He crowned them all with the gift 
of free will, for He would not create slaves, who, by 
coercion, would be obliged to serve Him. He made 
them the Princes of His Court, and they were happy. 



4 A CROWX POB OUU QUEEK. 

But their free will must be tested — and their fidelity. 
The test was given. What was it? Who knows ? How 
long did it last ? Who can tell ? 

Many, if not most of the writers on the ^^Vngelic 
Fall/' teach that God revealed to the angel world the 
creation of this world and our race, and manifested to 
them the future Christ — God and man, and commanded 
them to adore Him. There came an hour when a dark 
storm of pride swept by the throne of God. The mystery 
of the God-man, eternally hidden in divine decree, 
flashed on then' vision from the far off future (for God 
strengthened and intensified their spiritual sight to 
behold the truth of the Incarnation), and they were 
bidden to believe and to worship in the heavens the 
future Christ of our earth, the Christ-God in a human 
form, born as man, in a nature lower than theirs, of a 
human mother. Eight on their vision, and with a sud- 
denness that startled their high intelligences, shone the 
central mystery of all creation, like a sun rising out of 
clouds, and gilding the very clouds around it ani 
beneath it with the golden glory of the purest light of 
heaven. It was the miracle of God in eclipse. The 
light and the shadows fell on and moved over the angel- 
world. The clouds that hung round and seemed to dim 
the brightness of the great mystery, were to test the 
trust of those spiritual intelligences in the wisdom and 
the works of their Creator. 

Lucifer and his followers would not believe— or believ- 
ing, would not adore the Man- Christ, their future king^ 
nor honor His mother, their predestined queen. They 
rejected the brightness of the sun of justice and mercy, 
because of the clouds around its light. They arose in 
pride. God in the eclipse of humility they would not 



FLOWER OF MARYS PREDESTli^ATlOl!^. 5 

have. He was beneatli them, and they would not wor- 
ship. On them fell the awful eclipse of an eternal exile 
from the light of joy and the joy of light. Thus sin came, 
the first sin. It rose right beside the Most High. It 
began — strange mystery — in the spirit of the first and 
highest of the angels in the aristocracy of creation, who 
stood nearest to the throne. It was a horror in the 
heavens only an instant, and the darkness, without a 
moment's mercy, w^as sv/ept away out of the sight of 
God into everlasting darkness. They who stood the 
trial of their free will and remained faithful were elevated 
into higher places and confirmed in everlasting grace. 
Heaven lost not a gleam of its glory. God lost not a 
joy of His infinite happiness, but the fallen lost all in 
losing Him. 

Wi.l God create again ? His first and brightest crea- 
tures, the princes of His court, have fallen. Yes, he 
will. But Avill he trust the power of free will to the 
next creation? God will never make creations who 
would be slaves or machines, and they would be one or 
the other if bereft of free will. 

From the unbeginning he had resolved to create the 
human race. He would unite together matter Immortal 
and immortal intelligence crowned with the gift of free 
will. His son was to belong to that race and find a 
mother in it. It was to be created not only to His 
image, but to His likeness as well. Adam and Eve were 
to found the race. He foresaw the race would fall as 
the angels fell, and yet, notwithstanding this knowl- 
edge, he resolved to create the human race. Which 
resblve, to those who deeply think, instead of being an 
argument against His goodness> is a wondrous proof in 
its favor. 



6 A CBOWK POE, OUK QUEEX. 

Adam was to be made to the image and likeness of 
the future Christ. Eve, the mother cf the race, was to 
be formed to the image and likeness of Mary, the mother 
of the Christ of this race ; but Adam and Eve must 
wait. God, in His own appointed tim?, shall create 
their dwell'ng place. In the history of time and earth 
they will precede Christ and Mary, but in the divine 
decrees Christ and Mary precede them. Jesus and Mary 
w^re not afterthoughts, owing to the foreseen fall. They 
were God's first thoughts before and notwithstanding 
the fall. Their predestinations antedated, if I may use 
the w^ord, all predestinations angelic, human, or the pre- 
destinations of those of any other race vvhich God might 
create. Thus, as Eve was contained in the first Adam, 
who fell, being part of the same creation, ro Mary was 
contained in the decree of Christ's, the second Adam's 
predestination, as having, of all creatures first and 
highest, part in the redemption. 



ASPIBATIOX. 

'^ The Lokd is nigh unto all them that call upon 
Him ; to all that call upon Him in truth. He Avill do 
the wuU of them that fear Him, and He w^ill liear their 
praj'er and save iliem.'^— Psalm cxiiv* 

Prayer. 
Our Father and Hail Mary. 



SECOND DAT. 



^U ^Xmtx nf P^ra'^ ^xt&t0ixvizixm 



SEOOis'D PAET. 



'*P->ul, a servant of Jesus Christ, * * * separated unto the Gospel of 
God, which He had promised before by His prophets in the holy scrip- 
tures, concerning' the [His] Son, who was made to Him of the seed of 
David, according to the flesh, who was predestinated the Son of God. 
* * ^y—Eomans^ i. 

Feo^i the unbeglnning, Jesus Christ, The Slaii of the 
human race, was predestined to be the Son of God. 
Therefore, Mary, the woman of the human race, was 
predestined to be the Mother of the Son of God, by 
becoming the Mother of Jesus Christ. The two pre- 
destinations are inseparable. One cannot be without 
the other in the decrees of eternity, because one has not 
been manifested and realized without the other in the 
days of time. There is no equality between these two 
first predestinations, because one is the predestination of 
the Man-God, who is infinite, while the other is the pre- 
destination of a finite creature ; but each in decree eter- 
nal, as in earthly fact, is necessary to the other. "We 
cannot put asunder their predestinations in the will of 
God no more than we can separate their realizations in 
the worship of earth. 

Jesus Christ, as man, was predestined to possess 
the divine substance, and to be, therefore, God perfect 
as well as perfect man. Mary was predestined to form, 

(7) 



8 A CROWH FOR OUE QUEEl^. 

out of her flesh and blood, the human nature of the 
Man-Christ, to which the divine nature is to be person- 
ally united, and, therefore, by God's will she is made a 
necessary element in the predestination of Jesus Christ, 
to be in God's appointed time the Son of God. 

It is impossible for God to elevate a human person 
higher than Mary, who was to become in time, and on 
earth, the Mother of Him who in the heavens and from 
all eternity is the Father's only Son; and, therefore, 
Mary stands amid all creatures solitary in her grandeur, 
unapproached in the order of grace, and she cannot be 
judged by the standards with which we judge other 
creatures. She must be measured by God's standards, 
and those standards are found in her eternal predestina- 
tion to be the Mother of the God-Man, Son of the eternal 
Father and Saviour of the world. AVe must not forget 
that. Human personality was not glorified nor exalted, 
much less divinized by or in Jesus Christ, for though 
real man He was not a human person. 

He left human personality just where and as it was 
before, and yet every person, in any creation, has and 
must have personal relations and degrees of relationship 
with Jesus Christ. That relationship is the test of the 
moral position of any and every creature. To break i^s 
bonds means sin and condemnation ; to preserve them 
means grace and salvation. To make that relationship 
nearer, dearer, higher, closer, more intimate, marks the 
various ascending degrees of Christian sanctities. To 
weaken the bonds and make them less near and dear, 
less close and intimate, marks the descending grades of 
human sinfulness. 

" I was God's chosen prophet,^ Isaias exclaims Dack 
in the shadows of the old dispensation, and the other 



FLOWED OF 3IARY S PREDESTIKATI02T. 9 

prophets re-echo the same, for the gift of prophecy was 
divided among many. There was succession in their 
oflSce and order, 

" I was Christ's Apostle," cries out St. Peter, and the 
eleven and his and their successors repeat the same; for 
the dignity was divided among many. " I was His peni- 
tent," exclaims Mary Magdalen, and all the sin- wrecked 
souls in the world that ever drift on mercy's waves to 
His feet, the calm and beautiful shore of pardon, sigh 
the same; for the grace of pardon is distributed am^ong 
many, and countless is the number of penitents. "I 
am His disciple,'' exclaims, in the joy of his heart, the 
true believer, and innumerable are the voices rising out 
of every age and nation proclaiming the same ; for the 
grace of discipleship is divided, and many as the sands 
of the sea are the faithful followers of Christ. '' I am 
His angel/' cries out the faithful Michael, in the glory 
of the heavens, and ten thousand times a hundred 
thousand voices in the eternal courts re-echo the cry ; 
for angelic dignity is divided, and greater in number 
and in splendor, brighter than all the stars that arch 
the aisles of space, are the hierarchies on high. 
- Prophet, apostle, penitent, disciple here below, angels 
above, how they fill the earth and the heavens with cease- 
less hymns of glory to God and His Christ, the accords 
of which are as innum^erable as the singers in creation's 
countless choir. 

But apart and alone — and though amid — above them 
all, stands one with a tone in her voice none other can 
ever borrow ; and a tone so true, so sweet, so tender, with 
such a miystery and meaning in its melody — a human solo 
in creation's choir — Mary of Nazareth, who, in the 
humility of her glory and in the glory of her humility, 



10 A CROWK FOR OUR QUEEl!^. 

exclaims ^- 1 am His Mother." It is a human voice 
with a finite tone. 

Out of the eternal silence floats something like an 
echo, from a voice divine, in an infinite tone — from God 
Himself—" I am His Eternal Father.^' 

" I am His Eternal Father ! " "I am His Mother ! " 
Incommunicable words, these. None other, save God 
and Mary, can pronounce them, for none other holds 
such personal and natural relationship to Jesus Christ. 

He has prophets, apostles, evangelists, p2nitents, dis- 
ciples, ministers in creation, beyond the reckoning of 
man — but He has only one mother, and can never have 
another. 

Thus it is that personality belonging to our human 
nature, in Mary of Nazareth, has reached an elevation 
of glory simply, and forever inaccessible. The eternal 
paternity of the Infinite Father, which is not shared in 
by the Son or the Holy Ghost, is the first and greatest 
(if we may use first and greatest where there is nothing 
secondary or less great) mystery within the Trinity. 
The divine maternity of Mary of Nazareth is the first 
and greatest mystery outside of the Trinity. God's 
power could go no farther. Personalitj^, angelic or 
human, could rise no higher. "Within the Trinity, even 
to the Eternal Word and the Eternal Spirit, paternity 
is incommunicable, it belongs to the Father alone. Out- 
side the Trinity, Mary's divine maternity is incommu- 
nicable to any finite creature; and, therefore, the pre- 
destination of Mary to be the mother of Jesus Christ 
was, and is, next to the decree of the Incarnation, and by 
her consent made inseparable from it, the grandest act 
of infinite wisdom, power, mercy and love conceived in 
eternity and consummated in time. Such another act 



FLOWEB OF HARY'S PBEDESTIKATION. 11 

will never again be made, for such another act can 
never again be called for; because, though Mary was 
a finite, and cho:en though still free agent in it, the 
act itself was infinite, and as such, covers every fact of 
good or evil in all creation — of good, to better, bless, 
crown and glorify it; of evil, to remedy, pardon, punish 
or eternally doom it. 

" I am God's Mother '' is a declaration beyond and 
above which there can be but one higher announcement 
to men, Christ's : " I am your God ! ^^ Christ's announce- 
ment to angels and men, t3 all creatures of all creations, 
"I am your God," and Mary's declaration, "I am His 
mother,'^ define forever their incommunicable relations 
to one another and to all creation, while, at the sam3 
time, they at once, and forever, fally determine the only 
true, correct, certain and perfect inner acceptance, and 
the only correct, certain, true and perfect outward pro- 
fession of faith in the presence of two truths which are 
inseparably bound together, and meet, without either 
greatening or lessening the other, or either absorbing 
the other, in the one great mystery of the redemption. 

There is another being that is not a person, a moral 
yet visible being that alone can and does present to the 
eyes of fa^th these two truths, separate, yet united, with 
all their evidences, meanings and consequences. That 
moral being is mystically a virgin and a mother, bring- 
ing forth Jesus Christ in the minds and hearts and lives 
of men, and in the fall sight of the world. She is the 
bride of the Lamb, who, as Mary of Nazareth, alone 
could say '• I am the mother of Jesus/' has alone the 
sacred and exclusive right to say ^^I am Christ's 
Church." That Church, by the gTace of God to each 
of us given, is our own Holy Eoman Catholic Church. 



12 A CROWi^r FOK OUR QUEEiT. 

She, aloue, not only realizes, but througli all the days 
of time, livingly perpetuates the Incarnation; and she 
only by Mth can apprehend, and by divinely com- 
missioned infallible authority does and must proclaim, 
as part of the Incarnation, the mystery of Mary's eternal 
predestination, with all its everlasting meanings and 
consequences. 

Ah ! how the Trinity must have loved her in the act 
of her predestination. She became daughter of God 
the Father, mother of God the Son, and spouse of God 
the Holy Ghost ; and through her Son, she, the finite 
creature, enters into real kinship with each of the divine 
persons of the Trinity. For Jesus Christ has two 
origins — one in heaven, as God in the bosom of the 
Eternal Father, having infinite relations with Father 
and Holy Ghost — the other on earth, as man in the 
bosom of His Virgin Mother, who, therefore, becomes 
lovingly related to the three persons of the Holy Trinity. 
Take away in fact, or deny in thought, either of these 
two origins, and Jesus Christ cannot be what he was 
predestined to be, the Son of God. Mary is to give 
Him the humanity by which He will become the Saviour 
of the world, v/hilst the eternal Father, from all et.ernity, 
generates His divinity, which, when united to the 
humanity received from His mother, will make the 
world's salvation inflnite. Without Mary He would 
not be man, and could not live, teach, sufier and die 
for us. Without His eternal Father He would have no 
divinity, and could He have lived, taught, sufiered and 
died for us, our redemption would be vain. 

Jesus Christ is the '^ first fruit of all creation," as 
the Scripture says, and He is the sole cause of all pre- 
destination and salvation. But Christ is the fruit of 



FLOWER OF MARY'S PREDESTlKATIOiq-. 13 

the wornb of Mary, and she, by the operations of the 
Holy Ghost, is the cause of Christ's human existence. 
And as in the decrees of eternity, so in all the glorious 
work of Christ in time, she stands not by favor but by 
holiest right with Him and beside Him. He, as man, 
is her fruit. All the fruit which ever will be produced 
by Him, belong primarily to Him, but must second- 
arily belong to her. By the work of the Holy Ghost 
she gave to the Son of God a new existence, in which 
existence Jesus Christ, her son, gave to the Father what 
else the Father never could have received, infinite wor- 
sl>ip. She made Him man. The Father generated Him 
God. The Holy Ghost, who terminates the Trinity and 
within the Trinity is barren (we speak it in reverence), 
producing no person, becomes infinitely fruitful, out- 
side of the Trinity, in the womb of Mary, when He 
does produce Jesus Christ, Man and God. 

In every Avork of grace that ever was, or ever will be, 
Father, Son and Holy Ghost have part. But all grace 
is from and through Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ is 
by Mary ; therefore, in every work of grace the mother 
of the Father's Son Incarnate has also her part ; and 
remember that all these beauties, glories, truths, are 
contained in the two eternal predestinations of Jesus 
Christ as the Son of God and of Mary of Nazareth as 
His mother. All salvation and predestinations come 
from theirs — and if theirs be inseparable, as mseparable 
they are, Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ, is an ever- 
living, everlasting element in all predestinations. 

Now did we not do well to leave the earth a little 
while in order to ascend to the eternities, where we 
have gathered the fairest flower, on Mary's first day, for 
the crown of our Queen ? Let us come back to her 
altar again, and first think and then pray. 



14: A CBOWX rOR OUR QTTEEX. 

The greatest writers, men wlio have sounded the 
depths of truths, teach that true devotion to the Virgin 
Mother is a certain sign of predestination. Have we 
that true devotion ? Do we make our lips wings to 
waft Hail Mary's to heaven ? Ah ! the Hail Mary came 
from heaven, but it wants to go back home again. It 
wants to fly from the sinful world to the sinless heaven, 
and to bring in its sweet, simple words, our petitions to 
our King through our Queen. Happy the lips that 
breathe the Queen's prayer. Blessed the hearts that 
shrine worship for the Son, love for the mother and 
homage for the Queen ! 



ASPIRATIO:^'. 

THE depth of the riches of the wisdom and of the 
knowledge of God! How incomprehensible are His 
judgm.ents and how unsearchable His ways ! For of 
Him and by Him and in Him are all things. To Him 
be glory forever. — Romans, xi. 

Prater. 

1 BELIEVE in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of 
heaven and earth ; and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, 
our Lord ; who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born 
of the Yir.gin Mary; suffered under Pontius Pilate; 
was crucified, dead and buried; He descended into hell; 
the third day He arose again from the dead ; He 
ascended into heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of 
God, the Father Almighty ; from thence He shall come 
to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy 
Ghost; the Holy Catholic Church; the communion of 
saints ; the forgiveness of sins ; the resurrection of the 
body, and life everlasting. Amen. 



THIRD DAY. 



S;ft^ iSmtx 0f tU$ Exml^i^, 



FIRST PART. 



And the Lord God said to the serpent: ''I will put enujities between 
thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed."— C en. ^ iii. 

Whither shall we go to-day to gather another flower 
for the crown of our Blessed Queen? Yesterday we 
gathered, in Eternity, the Flower of Mary's Predestina- 
tion. To-day let us enter the Garden of Eden and 
find the Flower of the Promise. 

Does God ever rest? Never. His Power and Love 
have ceaseless activities. He is always in action; but 
His action costs Him no effort. 

Does God ever rest? Always. With Him work is 
rest, and rest is work. He is always creating, and for- 
ever resting in His manifold creations. This very hour 
He is creating souls for this earth; and who knows? 
mayhap new worlds and other races in the immensity of 
His Heavens. 

Ah, me ! men's minds sometimes seem as narrow as 
their own little horizons. They fain would confine God 
within the limited circle of their own knowledge. They 
know the history of the angelic world, dimly and only 
in part ; and they read the story of this world, but only 
in fragments; and they fain would believe that beyond 
this and the angel-world God has done nothing. Not a 
half of what God has done and is doing and. will do has 

(15) 



16 A CROWIT FOR OUR QUEEK. 

been revealed. Eeason is always at fault in measuring the 
immeasurable. Kevelation tells us only a tithe of the 
doings of God. What is sufficient for our soul's salva- 
tion Eevelation teaches. It seldom goes beyond this 5 
but it sometimes does, and when it does it opens to the 
wondering eyes of Faith vast, luminous horizons, bright 
with infinite suggestions of God's power and glory. 

How long after the creation and fall of the angels did 
God wait before He created this our world, and the 
human race ? No one knows. And between these two 
creations, were there other creations of worlds and 
beings unknown to us? Who can tell? Beyond our 
horizons extends the Illimitable. Think you that it is 
a barren and lifeless waste, without creatures to worship, 
or voices to praise, or intelligences to glorify the beauti- 
ful God? 

No, no. God is Power, and the passion of power is 
to act, and God is Love infinite and the law, and the 
love of Love is to give life and happiness. Examine 
a drop of Avater with the microscope. What do you 
see ? A little world teeming with life. Thousands of 
living creatures are born, grow, live and die in the little 
world of a drop of water. Does this not show how God 
loves to give life ? 

And even matter that is lifeless — does it not manifest 
something strangely like unto life in the cohesion of its 
atoms ? 

Now lift your eyes aloft at night and gaze on the 
beautiful stars, and remember that beyond your vision's 
farthest reach there are bright worlds innumerable. 
Are they all tenantless ? Are any of them, or some of 
them, or many of them inhabited ? We know not — ^bufc 
why may it not be ? It may be— why should it not be? 



THE FLOWER OF THE PROMISE. XP^ 

that there are in the heavens stars and planets, otlier 
than ours, peopled by intelligent beings, different from 
us in the composition of their natures, and yet like our 
race, made to know, love, serve and possess God, with 
us, in eternity. It may be that we belong to the lowest 
order of intelligent beings, that we are the poor plebians 
of the universe. And it may be that this is the reason 
why the Son of God, by whom all worlds were made, 
wishing to humble Himself to the lowest, descended into 
this lowest part of all creation, and became one of our 
race by assuming our nature. If it be so, the blood of 
the Cross sh d on earth's Calvary benefits whatever is 
above us. Does not the Apostle of tiie Gentiles coming 
back to earth from the third heaven, seem to be in 
accord with our thought in the first chapter of his 
epistle to the Ephesians ? Be this as it may, this is the 
world in which we are concerned. 

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the 
earth.'' Thus begins the story of our world. It is God- 
made. Let science, without faith, quibble, quarrel, 
theorize, doubt, deny. Let philosophers attribute the 
world's creation to chance, to the fortuitous coming 
together of atoms, or to any other absurd cause. It is 
a way they have. But the moment they deny its divine 
creation they fall into puerile absurdities. They destroy 
the dignity of the material world. For it has a dignity 
of its own. The mark of the hand of its God is bright 
and clear and holy on it all. The words of Genesis, 
written on the gates of this earth's creation, shine with 
a light that never fades ; and the same words are writ- 
ten in the traditions of all nations and peoples. Who 
made this world ? Ask the race that inhabits it. The 
human race answers God. That is sufficient. If there 



18 A crow:jt for our quee:;^, 

be a few insensate minds, wliich, discordant among 
themselves, give other and different answers, why let 
them rave over their theories. They stand against the 
race, and the race stands for God as the mg^ker of its 
dwelling place; and the race is right. Let beliefless 
science adequately account for the history of a single 
grain of sand, It cannot, try it never so hard. It is 
baffled. Science stands on the outside of matter. It 
never yet has entered into the hidden sanctuary of 
substance, and it never can. Like the veil which hid 
the Holy of Holies from the gaze of the people, so 
around the mysteries of matter hangs a veil which the 
hand of science can never lift. And yet science would 
fain have us accept as truths beyond question the mys- 
teries of its philosophies, while it laughs us to scorn for 
accepting, and with highest reasons, the divine mysteries 
of the supernatural order. The horizon of knowledge 
is narrow and bounded by earth. The horizons of faith 
are as illimitable as the heavens. 

" God created the earth : '^ that makes the mystery 
of earth's existence beautiful and sublime, and solves the 
mystery by naming its creator. Slowly, day by day, 
moved the great Creator in His work. He was building 
a habitation f ^r the race to which, in the far future. 
His only begotten Son was to belong. Came the sixth 
day, and a voice spoke : '^ Let us make man to our own 
image and likeness." 

Think you that only on the sixth day the voice thus 
spoke? God had determined the words by voluntary 
decree of love from all eternity. And the sixth day was 
Friday. On a future Friday the fallen creation will be 
redeemed. 

*^ And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the 



THE FLOWER OF THE PROMISE. 19 

earth, and He breathed into him the breath of life, and 
man bocamo a living soul," and He planted a garden in 
Eden and there placed man, the visible image of the 
invisible God; and not out of the dust of earth, but out 
of Adam's side He made the woman for his companion, 
and He walked with them in the evenings in the garden. 
He created them immortal and crowned them with 
supernatural justice. Ah! Eden was then a home of 
holiest joy and purest happiness. As He had tried the 
free will and fidelity of the angels, so He gave a test of 
obedience to our first parents. God tests all His crea- 
tures. The angels fell through pride which uprose in 
disobedience. Man fell through disobedience caused by 
pride. " You shall be like Gods," said the tempter. 
In both falls there was high treason against the majesty 
of God. Of every tree in the garden they might freely 
eat, except of the tree of the knowledge of good and 
evil ; in eating of it lay the penalty of death. How 
long did the trial last? It is not known. 

And God was wont to walk with them at evening 
time in the garden of their innocence ; and in Adam 
God beheld the image of the future Christ ; and in Eve 
the image of the mother of His Son, and He was glad. 
Did God walk with them, in Eden, in holy converse in 
order to lighten the trial of their obedience and to make 
them strong to meet the tempter who was to come ? 

He came at last, and he approached the weaker. Eve 
was alone. He tempted her insidiously. She hesitated. 
But when the tempter said *^ if you eat of the tree you 
shall be as Gods," she yielded and did eat of the fruit, 
and gave it also to her husband, and he did eat. Thus, 
as the angels had fallen, they fell. Ah ! the great dark- 
ness that swept across their fallen souls ! Ah ! the wild 



so A CIiOW:N" FOR OUE QUEEK. 

rush of passions into their hearts! Ah! the awful 
horror of their guilt! Ah! the unutterable fear to 
meet the beautiful God ! And they hid themselves. 

As if, in sooth, to hide would be their crime's con- 
cealment! Why the whole universe felt at once the 
shock of earth's first sin and the crash of the fall. 
Down crumbled the lofty pillars of the temple of human 
nature, the glorious pillar of supernatural grace of the 
soul and the beautiful column of immortality of the 
body. The temple was in ruins. Adam and Eve were 
uncrowned and dethroned. The royal, grace-woven, 
mantle of original justice, the sign of their sovereignty, 
fell from their souls and bodies; and no wonder, as 
Scripture says, that they felt themselves naked. Eising, 
as they did, in rebellion against God's command, mate- 
rial nature threw off its subjection to their sovereignty. 
Woman, man's equal, was placed under his power, and 
man became a victim to the strong forces of nature 
which, by his sin, escaped from his control and scorned 
his power. Such was the fall of Adam and Eve, and 
with them, and in them, fell from its high estate the 
entire human race. So sin entered, and with sin, death. 
It might have been otherwise. An instant's disobedi- 
ence darkens forever the history of the race. What will 
the creator do ? Not a moment of mercy nor a sign of 
hope gave He the angels in their fall. No promise of 
restoration afar off was theirs. Not a word of love. 
The high treason was too near the throne ; but on them 
sudden fell a dark, swift, hopeless, everlasting maledic- 
tion. 'Twas an act of infinite justice. Ah! will mercy 
come with God when He enters the garden to meet the 
criminals? Ah, yes! already they are repenting. The 
first tears have fallen. They are hiding themselves 



THE FLOWER OF THE PROMISE. 21 

away from the face of God, and by their very hiding 
they are acknowledging their guilt and its shame. 



Aspiratio:n". 

" HOW great is the multitude of Thy sweetness, 
Lord, which Thou hast hidden for them that fear Thee ; 
which Thou hath wrought for them that hope in Thee, 
in the sight of the sons of men ! — Psalm, xxxi. 

Prayer. 

Raise up, we beseech Thee, Lord, Thy power, and 
come, that by Thy protection we may deserve to be 
rescued from the threatening dangers of our sins and 
to be saved by Thy deliverance. Amen. 



FOUBTH DAY. 



%\\t ^mn 0f tlie lyxrmto* 



SECOXD PART. 



*' Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and his name shall be 
called Emmanuel.'*— i^aiow, vii. 

Ikto th3 garden which sin had entered came God, at 
eventide, seeking the sinners. What will He do ? When 
the angels, the princes of creation and of His court fell, 
there was no mercy. Eight beside the throne they had 
fallen, and swift and sudden on them fell the everlasting 
malediction. Not the faintest whisper of a far off hope 
for them was heard in the dark and terrible sentence. 
The sinners hiding in the garden, conscious of their 
own guilt, were unconscious of the fact of the other, 
and first sin, in the higher places, and of the fearful act 
of justice which had punished it forever. 

God called Adam, but, ah! how earth's first sin had 
changed the very tone of the Creator's voice ! It had 
lost its t?nderness. And God called Eve. He ques- 
tioned both, and each confessed their guilt. Did they 
then fall down at His feet and weep ? Did they plead 
with piteous prayers for mercy ? Who knows ? And 
then God called the serpent to pass his sentence. " I 
will put enmities between thee and the woman, and 
between thy 'seed and her seed. She shall crush thy 
head and thou shalt lay in w^ait for her heel.'^ Then 

(22) 



THE FLOWER OF THE PROMISE. 23 

to the woman : " I will multiply thy sorrow and concep- 
tion. In sorrow thou shalt bring forth thy children." 
Then to the head of our race He spoke : " Cursed is the 
earth for thy sate. In sorrow shalt thou eat of it all 
the days of thy life. In the sweat of thy brow shalt 
thou eat thy bread until thou returnest unto earth; for 
dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.'^ 

Oh, wondrous mercy ! God cursed the serpent and 
He cursed the earth, but He did not curse our first 
parents, nor did He utter a curse against our race. "Why ? 
Because His only Son was to be born in our raco. 

He looked away from the garden of guilt down the 
future years. Afar off He saw the ^'express image" of 
Himself in the human face of Christ, the second Adam, 
and in Mary He beheld the second Eve ; and with a love 
surpassing highest thought, because it was infinite, with 
the very malediction which He pronounced against 
Satan He mingled mercy's promise. 

** I will put enmities between thee and the woman, 
between thy seed and her seed, and she shall crush thy 
head." Great is the mystery ! the woman was conquered 
by the tempter, and the tempter will be crushed by the 
woman. Through the woman came sin to the man, and 
by the woman will come the Man who is to conquer sin, 
and the children of the race, though fallen, will become 
like unto God, "made conformable by grace to the 
image of the Son of God." Thus the flower of the 
promise of the woman who was to crush the serpent's 
head bloomed fair and sweet in the very shadows that 
fell around the garden of the first sin. The woman is 
promised first, because the woman first fell, and the 
flower of promise is twined around the prophecy of her 
seed — the Messiah. 



24: A CBOWi^ FOU OUK QUEEis". 

The history of our race from its fall, begins with the 
mighty words, " I will put enmities between thee and 
the woman, and between thy seed and her seed/* What 
woman ? One who will be a mother. Whose mother ? 
The mother of Jesus Christ, who will be her seed, and 
for all who receive Him the seed of eternal life. And 
her name ? Ask all the generations, they call it blessed, 
they know, honor and love it — Mary. 

Ah ! name more beautiful than all names save His, at 
the sound of which " every knee must bend in heaven 
and on earth," thou wert a hidden glory in eternity, 
and thou didst shine like a star in the darkness of the 
fall of our race, and thy rays, pure and bright, gleamed 
a halo of mercy and hope on the sorrowful souls of our 
guilty first parents when they passed out of the gate of 
Eden by the flaming sword of the cherubim guarded, 
leaving all their happiness there when all their inno- 
cence had been lost. 

Oh woman, "blessed among women ! " the fallen world 
lifts up its eyes to thee, and in its weeping hails thee as 
the harbinger of its redemption ! 

Oh Mother of the Saviour Christ! make haste and 
meet those who walk *^ moaning and weeping in this 
valley of tears." Tarry not long, for the weary world 
leans towards the future, and is listening for the sweet 
sound of thy footsteps; for thou wilt bring to its dark- 
ness, Christ, the everlasting light, and to its sorrows, 
Christ, the everlasting joy, and to its places of death, 
Christ, the everlasting life, and to its sinfulness, Christ, 
the infinite salvation. 

Oh, Mary of the Promise ! Heaven does not need 
thee, for all is joy and blessedness there ! Poor earth 
sighs for thee! Oh, dove of the new covenant, come 



THE FLOWEU OF THE PROillSE. 25 

soon, through the gates of the morning, bearing the 
olive branch of the peace of God to the world. 

But she will tarry long before the earth shall see her 
face. Here below, the Eden of innocence and happi- 
ness was closed forever, and no one yet has passed the 
cherubim who guards its gates, and no one ever shall. 
There is a brighter Eden above, whose gates are also 
closed until He comes who holds, by right, the keys. 
But His mother must come first. 

On went the years into the pas^, on moved the human 
race, looking towards the future; wickedness grew 
apace; corruption defiled the whole world, and God was 
angry. What will He do? He has called on men to 
repent and to return to Him in the repentance of their 
hearts. The patriarch IsToah is His preacher. The 
world will not hear. Then came a day, not two thou- 
sand years away from man's last day in Eden, when the 
fountains of the great deep were broken up and the 
cataracts of heaven rushed down and whelmed the 
world in universal deluge. All flesh was destroyed 
from the face of the earth save Noah and his family, 
and God made a covenant with him. They carried in 
the ark with them the memories that came down from 
the gates of Eden, and when they were dispersed all 
over the world, wherever they went, they bore with them 
the tradition of hope. They looked towards the future, 
and the cry of the world's faith was : " We believe that 
He will come — the Messiah." 

But the woman of Genesis, promised in the garden, 
must come first. Every cry for Him was a sigh for her. 
David, the royal poet of the old covenant, sang in loftiest 
strains inspired, of the glories of the Messiah's reign and 
the mercies of His redemption. Every song for Christ 
was a song for Mary, for His mother must come first. 



26 A CROWi^ FOR OUE QUEEI^. 

Great prophets arose. They knew the histories of the 
yesterdays, and with cloudless vision they saw the 
mysteries of the to-morrows. Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jere- 
miah and Daniel, the four prophet evangelists of the 
covenant of figures, cried with a strong voice aloud to 
the people and the wotld : ^' He will come — the Messiah. 
His day is growing nearer,'^ and the people waited in 
hope and worshipped Him afar oflF. But His mother 
must come first. 

The last of the prophets, Malachias, gave the "bur- 
den of the word of the Lord to Israel.'^ He predicted, 
in words that sound impassioned, the glorious, universal 
and everlasting sacrifice of the coming covenant. But 
the victim must come first, and before the victim, the 
victim's mother. 

Then there fell a strange husli on Israel. The last of 
the prophets had spoken and prophecy ceased. Why ? 
The Prophet of Prophets was near at hand. Near at 
hand ? Some hundred years will pass before the Messiah 
shall appear. Some hundred years seem far enough 
away from a common event, but hundreds of years are 
near indeed to the greatest event of earth and the 
grandest day of time — the coming of the expectation of 
the nations, Jesus Christ. But Mary must come first. 

On went the years. The tread of Roman soldiers had 
been heard in Judea and Jerusalem. The sceptre of 
Israel had pass3d into the hands of strangers, and the 
banners of Eome had flung their shadows against the 
holy temple. The east looked towards the west, the 
west looked towards the east in mysterious expectation. 
The Messiah is coming. But His mother must come 
first. The flower of promise that bloomed out of God's 
words, far back in Eden, will soon blossom in Judea. 



THE FLOWER OF THE PROMISE. 27 

Oh, Flower of Promise ! thou hast brightened nearly 
forty centuries. Thou hast filled with thy sweet fra- 
grance the faith and hope of the world. What hand 
will dare to disentwine thee from the prophecies? Who 
will dare tear thee away from the history of the Messiah 
in His coming, or cast thee out of the garden of the 
Scriptures as if thou wert a worthless weed ? And if, 
Oh, Blessed Queen! 1 wreathe the flower of promise 
with the flower of predestination in thy beautiful May- 
crown, thou knowest that I have done well ; while I, 
Virgin Queen! do but only, and in humbleness, 
know that there are ten thousand hands than mine more 
worthy far to give thy crown a beauty which, alas, mine 
cannot give. 

How blind to the understanding of the supernatural 
economy of God's grace in this fallen world, are they 
who do not see the Christ and His Mother walking side 
by side, step to step together, down the ways of pro- 
phecy, their faces towards Bethlehem and Calvary ! Is 
it in some a judicial blindness? Will you fling the 
flower of the promise of the woman away? Then reject 
the Messiah and be consistent. The Messiah takes His 
mother along with Him wheresoever He goeth, where- 
soever He manifests Himself. She must be with Him 
to give him His human meaning. She must be with 
Him to prove that He is the man with flesh and blood 
like ours, which flesh shall be bruised and which blood, 
derived from her, will be shed for this world's redemp- 
tion. She must be with Him, mysteriously, back of all 
the figures of the old covenant. She must stand with 
Him back of the symbols and shadows of the old law, 
else He is not in figure, nor will He be in reality what 
His Father predestined Him to be — Jesus Christ, the 
Son of God. 



28 A CKOW:^^ POIl OUll QUEEX. 

But what He was predestined to be He must and 
shall be. His Father's eternal honor is pledged to it 
by eternal decree. His Father s eternal love is pledged 
to it by divine decrea. His own voluntary acceptance 
to become, through Mary, the Saviour of the world He 
must faithfully meet. The entire Holy Trinity, Father, 
Son and Holy Ghost, will be false to itself, and if so it 
is the very death of the Deity if the decree be not 
fulfilled in time, just as it was framed in the eternal 
counsels. God chan-^eth never His counsels. 

And the mother of the Man of Sorrows and God of 
glory must have her share in both. Her heart will be 
pierced by the sword as His side will be pierced by the 
soldier's lance; but her soul, also, must be clothed with 
the glory of her divine Son. She must drink the chalice 
with Him, and while He will v/ear the crown of the 
Man-God she will wear the mother's crown. 

Sweet flower of promise ! we have gathered thee from 
the garden of Eien. Fill our souls again with the fra- 
grance of the innocence Ave have lost, that so the gat3s 
of the Eden of Heaven may be opened by grace unto us 
to enter in and reign in glory with our queen forever. 



Aspiration. 
^» Loud, our Lord ! how wonderful is Thy name in 
the whole earth!" — Psalms, yVA. 

Peayer. 

God, who didst ordain Thine only begotten Son to 
be the Saviour of mankind, and didst command that 
He should be called Jesus, mercifully grant that we 
may enjoy in heaven the blessed vision of Him, whose 
holy name we worship on earth. Amen. 



FIFTH DAY. 



W\xt c^to'Cr 0f \\% %\\m^t\x\^\t ^mutMXi,. 



FIRST PART. 



**One is my dove, my perfect one is but one, she is the only one of her 
mother, the chosen of her that bore h.ev.'*-~Cancticles, vi. 

Ik the year 1849, Pius the IX was driven from Eome 
and went an exile to Gaeta. It S3ems that in our days 
the vicars of Christ must be victims for truth. Though 
he had given to the Roman people a liberal constitution, 
and had made many reforms in the government of the 
Papal States, the liberals became revolutionists and 
clamored for what could not in honor and principle 
be granted. 184:8 was a year of revolutions all over 
Europe. The waves of the revolution at last reached 
Rome and swept furiously over the States of the Church; 
and, as in all Italian revolutions, the cruel knife of 
assassination found many a hand ready enough to grasp 
it and many a victim to fall beneath it. In disguise, 
the Pope fled secretly from Rome and found refuge in 
the kingdom of Naples. Then forgetting his own 
wrongs and sufferings, and thinking only of the glory of 
God and the good of the Church, he addressed an 
Encyclical to each of the high prelates of the Church, 
in regard to the definition of the Immaculate Concep- 
tion of the blessed Virgin Mary. Questions were pro- 
posed to them for answer, as to their own belief and the 



30 A CROWK POR OUR QUEEif. 

faith of their flocks, and the traditions of their churches 
in regard to the conception of Mary. Meanwhile, the 
revolution raged and ruined. The world needed some 
gentle, peaceful truth to calm its agitations. What truth 
more serene than the sinless conception of the holy 
Virgin ? 

On the 12th of April, 1850, Pius the IX returned to 
Eome. Meanwhile his Encyclical had been read by the 
Bishops all over the earth, and with a wonderful unanim- 
ity they desired the definition of the dogma ; but the 
Church, in the world of dogmas, moves slowly, like 
unto God in the works of creation. Congregations of 
theologians, of unquestioned piety and of learning 
unsurpassed, were appointed to study the subject from 
every point of view, to examine authorities, to search 
the Scriptures, to inquire into ancient traditions, and to 
exhaust every source where reason could find reasons of 
the truth of the immaculateness of Mary's conception; 
for in building up the grand temple of Catholic dogmas', 
only the stones hewn by the hand of God from all 
eternity, and found where He has placed them in time, 
can be chosen, stones consecrated with the chrism of 
His love and power and will ; for only such stones have 
the right to be built up into the temple of faith resting 
on Jesus Christ, the corner stone ; and it is not authority 
alone, nor is it reason alone, that builds the temple by 
formulating truths into dogmas; but it is authority 
infallible, united to highest reason, that does the sacred 
work. Meantime, while the minds of the learned men 
were studying, examining and discussing the subject, 
the hearts of the faithful were praying for the object of 
their desires. 



FLOWER OF THE IMMACULATE COXCEPTIOX. 31 

III our Holy Church, as in each of its members, mind 
and heart together, not either of them separately, form 
the principle of every spiritual and catholic act, just as 
the Father and the Son, are the one principle, whence 
proceeds the Holy Spirit. Years passed on. The 
Church did not speak. As at the Council of Ephesus, 
the faithful were filled with a holy impatience, and all 
over the world they prayed for the day of the definition 
of the truth. It came at last. On the eighth of 
December, in the temple of St. Peter's of the Vatican, 
the mount which is the Thabor of truth and the Calvary 
of sorrow, was filled with an immense concourse of the 
faithful and strangers from many lands. Two hundred 
Bishops from many nations were there, and priests in 
thousands. The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass was offered 
with a grandeur of ceremonies unequalled. When the 
gospel had been sung in Latin and in Greek, a Cardinal, 
accompanied by Bishop and Archbishop, approached 
the throne of the Vicar of Christ and thus addressed 
the Sovereign Pontiff: 

" Most Holy Father, the Catholic Church has ardently 
and long desired that your supreme and infallible judg- 
ment will pass upon the Immaculate Conception of the 
most Holy Virgin Mary, Mother of God, a decision 
which will bring her an increase of praise, of glory and 
of veneration. In the name of the Sacred College of 
Cardinals, in the name of the Bishops of the Catholic 
world, and in the name of all the faithful, we humbly, 
and with fervent instance, ask that the universal desires 
of the Church may be granted in this solemnity of the 
Conception of the Blessed Virgin. Even now, while y{q 
are offering the august Sacrifice of the Altar in this 
temple consecrated to the Prince of the Apostles, and in 



33 A CROWK POR OUR QUEEK. 

the midst of this solemn reunion of the Sacred College, 
of the Bishops and of the people, deign, Holy Father, 
to lift up your apostolic voice and proclaim the dogmatic 
decree of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, and there 
will be joy in the heavens and gladness on earth." 

Such was the petition of the Cardinals, Patriarchs, 
Archbishops, Bishops, Priests and two hundred millions 
and more of the faithful. Were they blind ? AVho will 
say so ? The deepest learning of the world made the 
petition. Were they deceived ? The greatest wisdom 
on earth made the petition. Was it a petition of wicked- 
ness ? Wickedness will surely never ask for a dogma 
which means sinlessness. 

But before the Supreme Pontiff accedes to i\iu uni- 
versal petition he and the petitioners must pray to 
heaven. So the hymn of the Holy Ghost, the Veni 
Creator, rose in glorious melody from the hearts and 
lips of all in the temple, and tears of joy trickled down 
many a face there, Avith a soundless music of their own. 
While the echoes of the hymn, rising heavenward, were 
still faintly sounding high up in the lofty dome, Pius 
the IX, with great emotion in his voice, read the decree 
in which it is proclaimed : 

^' Tliat it is a dogma of Faith that the Blessed Virgin 
Mary, from and in the first instaiit of her Conception^ 
hy special grace and p)rivilege from God, in virtue of the 
merits of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the human race, 
tuas preserved and placed beyond the reach and stain of 
original sin.''' 

Ages ago, in a temple at Ephesus, when Mary's rela- 
tionship towards Christ had been assailed by Nestorius, 
the Fathers of the Council vindicated the rights of her 
divine maternity. On that 8th of December, in St. 



PLOWEU 0? THE IMMACULATE COi^CEPTIO:r!;r. 33 

Peter's, the Pontiii and Bishops defended the honor of 
Mary's soul and the integrity of her innocence. Faith 
kept a feast of joy in the hearts of the faithful. The 
glory of the joy of faith, like a grand Te Deum, swept 
over the world. Ten thousand temples sounded with 
song, and twice a hundred thousand altars, in lowly 
chapels and in cathedrals grand, flamed with lights and 
shone fair with flowers. And the unbelieving world 
laughed. Let it laugh. And a part of the unbelieving 
world sneered. Let them sneer. If the faithful w^ere 
glad, surely God and His angels were filled with joy. 

Think you that the Immaculate Conception of Mary 
was the invention of a truth that day in St. Peter's 
temple? Truth cannot be invented. Divine truth is 
even beyond the reach of mere human discovery. But 
divine truth is no more beyond the reach of infallible 
human announcement than it is beyond the reach of 
human certain acceptance. No one save the prophets, 
the Apostles and the Church of Christ has received truths 
of the divine order directly and immediately from God. 
Since the ascension of Christ, God is still. He never 
himself breaks His silence. The Church has "the mind 
of Christ," and as Christ, in the days of His life, only 
gradually gave forth His revelations, so the Church, 
which is His human organ of speech on earth, only 
gradually, and in God's appointed time, gives to the 
world His announcements of the revealed truths in her 
possession. 

The sun holds as much light on the rim of the eastern 
horizon in its morning rising as when it reaches the 
hour of its noon, but greater and brighter grows its 
light as it ascends the skies. So the Church, when it 
rose on the horizon of Judea eighteen centuries agone, 



34 A CROWK rOE OUR QUEEK. 

held all the light of truth in possessing Christ, the 
eternal light ; but only gradually, like our material sun , 
did it shine with greater splendors as it rose over the 
world. Nor Avill its light ever decrease. It shines on 
the dial of the day of Christ, telling the hours of truth 
forever, and so shall it shine till it reaches its noonday 
here below, and then will come the end. The sun of 
truth has no west where it will go down in shadows. 
Its west is in the heavens, into whose everlasting light 
it will triumphant rise. "What then is dogma? A new 
invention? Is it a new invention of light at nine 
o'clock in the morning, because there shines more light 
than just after morning's dawn? Is it not the same 
sun shining ? Is it not the same light coming to the 
earth ? Same sun ? Yes. Same light ? Truly so, tlie 
very same, but to our eyes growing brighter, and cover- 
ing with its increasing brightness more of the heavens 
and more of the earth. What then are dogmas ? They 
are the Truth whose bright light is shining forever 
in the Church, growing brighter, as the centuries pass, 
to the eyes of faith, in varied but not contradictory 
manifestations, and covering with the same increasing 
light more of the Vv^orld of mind. 

Look at the rainbow which spans the heavens and 
arches the earth, a sign of bright peace when the 
tempest has passed away, and learn a lesson. On the 
clouds shine rays of light. What else? From each 
drop of water in the cloud, out of each ray, seven 
different colors are reflected. The seven colors were 
hidden in each white ray till the rays touched the drops 
of water in the cloud, and then each ray reveals its 
hidden beauties to our eyes. So in the Church, there is 
but one truth, and that is all truth; but like unto the 



FLOWEB OF THE IMAIACULATE COIn^CEPTIO::^. 35 

ray with its seven colors, in that one truth are hidden 
CHintless truths, until they are refxected on our souls 
through dogmas defined by infallible authority, and 
like the rainbow after the storm, they come to bless the 
hearts of the faithful often, and generally after the 
tempests of sins and heresies have swept over the fold of 
Christ and filled His fiock with uncertainty and fear. 

Music is only a sweet sound, but in that sound, like 
unto the ray of the sun, seven notes lie hidden until 
revealed to our ears. The eighth note is but a repeti- 
tion of the first and the beginning of another seven. 
So truth has but one sound, and that is the sound of the 
voice of Christ, but in that sound sleep countless songs 
of truth unheard until the voice of authority wakes 
them into the sweet words of divine faith. 

Study the unit. All numbers and figures are con- 
tained in it. What are tens, hundreds, thousands, 
millions and more rising above the unit, but it itself 
manifested in higher and fuller forms ? And what are 
all the fractions lying beneath the unit, but it itself 
broken into fragments ? When the unit affirms itself it 
grows, it puts on greatness and glory; but when the 
unit denies itself it decreases, it puts ofi" its power and 
breaks itself into ignominious fragments. In the unit 
then are countless affirmations. So in the one truth 
there are hidden innumerable affirmations. And the 
unit has the power of denial; when it denies itself it 
descends beneath itself, and gives up its life as unity. 

So when reason, and no matter whose, denies truth in 
its unity, or any of its affirmations of faith, it descends 
into regions of deformed fragments and of darkness^ 
and it loses the life by losing the light of truth, and 
then reason ceases to reason ric^ht. Mere religious 



36 A CROw:^ POR ouK quee:^. 

opinions are fractions of faith, and once reason begins 
to work at this sinfal sum of fractions, there is no tell- 
ing when it will stop. Dogmas are affirmations of 
truths, going to make up the whole sum of faith ; and 
as truth is infinite Avhile we are finite, not in this world 
shall we ever reach the fullness of the sacred sum ; not 
till in the eternities, when we shall behold truth face to 
face in the vision of the Trinity. 

Alas for those who are blind to the clear light of the 
divine dogmas which shine out of the heaven of truth, 
like suns for the days and stars for the nights! Alas 
for those whose eyes look only on the fitful light that 
flickers across the changeful clouds blown about by the 
winds of human opinions ! Any church (we use the in- 
communicable name, which belongs to our Church alone, 
through mere courtesy) that cannot affirm the ancient 
truths has gone bayond their reach, and away from the 
light of Christ. Any church that has said its last word 
and can say no more, has exhausted its life and must 
die. Its very silence proves that it possesses only dead 
fragments. When any church ceases to affirm, it begins 
to deny. When once it has began to deny, by a force 
which it cannot resist, it will continue to deny, and will 
lean on denials for its very existence. When it ceases to 
say Yes before the throne of truth, it will begin to say 
No behind the throne, and sometimes the first low mut- 
tered No leads to the loud, last, blasphemous, absolute 
No. Then dies the very light of truth and the night of 
darkness comes. 

Oh beautiful Church ! Bride of the crucified Christ, 
bearing the heart as well as the mind of Christ, possess- 
ing His diviue person as well as His powers, thou didst 
come down from the upper chamber in Jerusalem, where 



FLOAVER OF THE IMMACULATE COKCEPTIOX. 37 

Mary was praying with thy Apostles, filled as were they 
with the Paraclete, and while thou didst preach Christ 
and Him crucified and risen from the grave, thou never 
didst forget the mother of the Christmas night, the 
mother of Good Friday, the mother of the Pentecost. 

Oh living Church of the everlasting God! Queen of 
truth, bearing the sceptre of divine authority, wearing 
the triple crown of faith and hope and charity, with the 
mercy-clasped sandals of salvation on thy feet, when 
thou didst stand in Ephesus of old, and didst speak in 
honor of the name of Mary, thy voice was strong and 
sweet, but in the temple of St. Peter's thy voice didst 
rise to triumphant tones when thou didst defend against 
unbelievers the honor of Mary's sinless soul. 
- Ah ! the olden words of Genesis, in God's malediction 
of Satan, "I will put enmities between thee and the 
woman, and between her seed and thy seed,'' never 
before received such triumphant confirmation, and the 
malediction of Satan never before put on such dark and 
mighty meaning. Out of her glorious Magnificat and 
into the glorious dogma rang, with their crowning mean- 
ing, *• All generations will call me blessed." Blessed 
the lips that announced the great truth, and blessed, in 
these days, the hearts that hailed with the welcome of 
faith and joy the glorious dogma. Was it all or only 
the work of men? No, it was the act of the Son oi 
Mary, through His chosen representatives. Listen! 

Had Christ Himself stood in the midst of that assem- 
bly, which represented eighteen centuries of doctrine, 
and had He been asked the question, " Tell us, was the 
conception of your Mother immaculate ? " What would 
have been His answer? Would He have said No? 
Would He liavo replied, ~" Pontiff and Priests^ you are 



38 A CEow^jT POR OUR quee:n'. 

troubling yourselves too mucli about my Mothers 
honor?" No, no, a thousand times No. Listen. He 
would have said : 

'* Pontiff and Priests; and let the whole world hear: 
My mother was conceived as pure and stainless in time 
as she was conceived in the divine thought and decree 
of her and My predestination, in the bosom of the 
Divinity. You have to-day reached back to My mother's 
eternal predestination, and our divine act in eternity 
you have accepted by the light of faith, and by your 
authority, which is mine, you have afurmed our act in 
the days of time. You have reached back to the promise 
of Jly mother and Me in the garden of Eden, and you 
have given to that promise, this day, its full authentic 
meaning. 

" Pontiff and Priests, was My mother, Mary of Naza- 
reth, conceived in sin? Who here will dare assert it? 
No, no! I the Son of God, had the right, because I 
so willed to humble myself. Did I not do so? Did 
I not bear every humiliation for you and for all. But 
I, as the Son of God, could not degrade myself. Had 
My mother been conceived in sin she would have been 
the slave of him whose empire I came to destroy; and I, 
as the eternal Son of God, could not become the son of 
a slave of Satan. My divinity must be inviolate in My 
humanity, and therefore tlie mother who was to clothe 
My divinity with the clothing of humanity must be 
immaculate in. soul and body; for out of her flesh and 
blood she is to weave the robes which my divinity must 
wear. The robes must be stainless. If she were stained 
by sin, could I, as the Son of God, wear robes with sin's 
stain on them ? Pure as the heavens I came from, and 
purest of the pure to the touch of My divinity and 



FLOWER OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTIO]S\ 30 

humanity must she be whose Son I myself predestined 
myself to be. Did 1 not, from all eternity, choose Mary 
of Nazareth to become my mother? Have I not all 
power? Would I be true to My infinite power if I had 
not preserved my mother from the contamination of 
Satan's touch and from the ignominy of his slavery? 
Am I not infinite love ? Have I not proven My love for 
the world, even unto death ? If I gave you a law to 
love and honor your mothers, must I not myself give 
yoti the most perfect example ot keeping the law ? 
Must I not love My mother with perfect love, and honor 
My mother with highest honor, the perfect love and 
highest honor of God and man ? Would I be true to 
the perfect and infinite love wherewith I must, as God 
and man, love My mother, and w^ould I not ba false to 
the highest honor of My mother, if, having all power 
to which nothing is impossible, and an infinite will 
which nothing can resist, and an infinite love for her, 
which your thoughts cannot comprehend nor your 
speech describe, I would permit the fallen angel to glory 
in My mother's fall? And when I stand before the 
world with My mother, and with My love for her as he- 
own and only child, proclaim that she is mine, could I 
leave it in the power of Satan to cry out in defiance : 
'Yes, Christ! she is your mother, but she was my 
slave?' In heaven, that Lucifer would fain become 
equal to God. Hence he was cast out. No wonder he 
strives, in hate, to drag My mother down into the mire 
of sin. No, no, it would be an infamy that would 
degrade My divinity — it would be an ignominy that 
would disgrace My humanity — and before the angels in 
heaven, and men on earth, and demons in hell, it would 
be the everlasting opprobrium of My mother. And the 



40 A CROWK FOR OUR QUEEK". 

infinite honor of My eternal Father, whose chosen 
daughter My mother is, would be shamed that I, His 
Son, would have a sin-stained mother; and the infinite 
sanctity of Our own Holy Spirit, whose spouse My 
mother is, would sufi'er detriment if, for an instant, My 
motlier's purity had been tarnished by guilt. 

" Pontiff and Priests, ye have Avorshipped Me with 
highest worship to-day. My mother's feast on earth, 
in that you have crowned her with an honor than 
which none can be greater — an honor which has been 
her's from all eternity, and which you proclaim to earth 
to-day. Pontiff and priests, this day was foreseen from 
all eternity, and your proclamation on earth was written 
from the unbeginning in letters as pure as My mother 
in the mind of the Father and cf the Son and of the 
Holy Ghost." 

Thus would Christ give His own divine testimony to 
the eternal honor of His mother. Thus would the 
Father and the Holy Spirit testify. And thus the 
dogma proclaimed that blessed day, in the grandest 
temple of faith on earth, is based not only on Scripture's 
inspired words, not only on the teachings of the holy 
Fathers, not only on the mystical illuminations of 
countless saints, not only on the traditions handed down 
from the beginning, not only on the divine proprieties 
of things, not only on the clearest, unanswerable reason- 
ings of the minds of men; but it rests on the very reason 
of God, and on the infinite will that decreed it from the 
beginning, and on the infinite power that guarded the 
decree, and on the glorious love, which could not be 
more glorious, that made the eternal decree a reality in 
time, in the home of Joachim and Anna. 

And now listen. Do not they who deny Mary's sin- 



PLOWER OF THE IMMiACULATE COi^CEPTIOX. 41 

less conception deny, consciously or unconsciously, her 
full blessedness ? Do they not, knowingly or unknow- 
ingly, lift up their voices against her prophecy : " All 
generations shall call me blessed ? " Do they not, let U3 
hope in ignorance, stand by Satan in the garden, and 
when they read the curse uttered against Satan : " I will 
put enmities between thee and the woman, and between 
thy seed and her seed " (the words are absolute), do 
they not think in fact, if not say in words : " No, there 
will not be absolute and everlasting enmity. There will 
be an instant, or more, when the enmity will be sus- 
p3nded or cease. She will be conceived in sin and fall 
under the power of Satan ? " The attribution of such 
power to Satan involves the withdrawal from Christ's 
mother of her soul's pure honor, and from God the 
power to prevent or the will lo resist such an indig- 
nity. Take away the principle of eternal enmity between 
the Woman and Satan for one instant, how will the 
enmity ba resumed? To honor the power of Satan so 
as to make it prevail over Mary, is it not a sort ot dia- 
bolic worship ? And to deny the sinlessness of the 
Mother of Jesus Christ, is it not a sort of diabolic blas- 
phemy ? 

Oh, Mary! Virgin, Mother, Queen! we are of the 
generations who rejoice to call thee blessed — blessed in 
thy predestination, blessed in the promise, and thrice 
blessed in thy holy and Immaculate Conception. To-day 
we twine the flower of thy sinless conception in thy 
crown. But, ah ! it is too fair a flower to lend its 
beauty to but only one day. To-morrow, oh Queen of 
spotless purity, we will look on the beauty of this spotless 
flower, that we may fill our hearts with its mystical 
fragrance. We, who have been conceived in sin and 



42 A CROWK rOK OUR QUEEK. 

brouglit forth in sorrow, lift up our souls in praise to 
God for having by His preventing grace, preserved at 
least one of our race — thee, oh Mary ! from stain of sin; 
and we magnify God, who hath done this thing for thee ; 
and we worship God because ITe hath placed thee out- 
side of the darkness of sin, and hath established thee in 
the full sunshine of His infinite grace. 

And, oh ! though sinless, thou wilt have pity on us 
sinners. Pray for us sinners "now and at the hour of 
our death,^' that we may in our own measure fiillill the 
prophecy and share thy privilege — that like unto thee, 
there shall be enmities between our souls and Satan for- 
ever and forever. 



Aspirations". 

Blessed art thou, Virgin Mary, by the Lord, the 
most high God, above all women upon the earth. Thou 
art all fair, Mary, and there is no stain of sin in thee. 

Prayer. 

Oh, God ! who, by the Immaculate Conception of the 
Virgin, didst prepare a worthy habitation for Thy Son, 
we beseech Thee that as Thou didst, through the fore- 
seen death of Thy same Son, preserve her from all stain, 
so Thou wilt also grant that we may reach Thee c'eansed 
through her intercession. 



SIXTH DAT. 



%\\t i,\mn tjit iixt immixmlnU dl^mmintmi 



SECOKD PART. 



*' Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will toll you what grreat 
things He hath done for my souV—Fsal?n, Ixv. 

To-day let us gaza again upon the spotless purity of 
tliis beautiful flower. There are three Edens — the Eden 
of Genesis, the Eden of grace, and the Eden of glory. 
The first was an Eden of perfect happiness until inno- 
cence was lost; the second is an Eden of perfect grace, 
in which innocence is regained ; the third is an Eden of 
perfect glory, where innocence, restored by grace, is 
forever crowned. The first was a material garden, 
bright with the beauty of all natural beautiful things; 
the second is the mystical garden of the Church, full of 
the spiritual beauties of supernatural grace; the third 
is the Eden of heaven, radiant Avitli the ineffable beau- 
lies of everlasting glory. 

Before the closed gate of the earthly Eden stands the 
angel of God's justice, with sw^ord of flame, guarding 
the gate and barring entrance through it. That flrst 
perfect happiness, wdth innocence lost, never has been 
and never shall be found again here below. Before the 
ever-open gate of the mystical Eden of grac?, the Holy 
Church, stands the angel of God's mercy, bidding those 
who are laden wdth sorrow and burdened by sin to 
come and enter. At the narrow gate of the ESen of 
glory, heaven, as sentinel stands the high Archangel of 



44 A CROWK FOR OUR QUEE]^. 

God's sanctity, guarding entrance through it against all 
souls defiled. In the first Eden, amid the falling ruins of 
perfect happiness and innocence, God promised the 
Redeemer and the Woman. In the second Eden of 
grace, the Redeemer, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and 
the woman, Mary of Nazareth, His mother, appear in 
fulfillment of the promise; and their relations, each 
to the other, are as inseparable in the EJen of grace as 
they were in the garden of the promise. In the third 
Eden, heaven, Jesus Christ is sitting at the right hand 
of His Father, in glory, King, as man, over all creations, 
while with Him, Mary of Nazareth, by right of her 
royal, divine motherhood, reigns queen over all crea- 
tures. And why? Because her Immaculate Concep- 
tion was, in the divine will, a necessary part of the pre- 
destination of Jesus Christ as Son of God, the Redeemer, 
and therefore King of all creations. It was by God's 
eternal ordaining, the firsl preparation for the kingdom 
of grace, the perfect fulfillment of the promise, the 
necessary prelude to the foundation of the Church, and 
to the wonderful history of the Sacraments ; and 
more than that, the very beginning on earth of all man's 
future glories in heaven. 

What then is the Immaculate Conception ? It is the 
restoration, in Mary, of the lost perfect innocence of the 
earthly paradise; it is the divine dowering of Mary with 
all the supernatur£il perfections of Eve in her innocence 
and before her fall ; and still more than that, because 
sinlessly conceived she is to make true, by conceiving 
Christ, the very words of Satan to Eve: ^* Ye shall be 
as GodSj" for Christ, her Son, is our Saviour — God, and 
by His grace we become partakers of His divinity, and 
become like unto God. 



FLOWEK OF THE IMMACULATE COXCEPTION". 45 

Mark yon, Ave were made to God's image ; the image 
was not lost by sin, for the image, like the indelible 
character of baptism, could not be destroyed ; but we 
were also made to Ilis likeness. By the fii^st sin that like- 
ness was destroyed. In the Immaculate Conception of 
Mary, that lost likeness is restored perfectly to her ; if we 
can so speak (it is against grammar, but in harmony 
with truth), more perfectly in Christ; and in Christ 
born of her the likeness is restored by grace, but less 
perfectly to us. 

She is the most perfect human person ever made by 
God (remember her Son, Jesus Christ, is not a human 
but a divine person) ; but the perfection of her person- 
ality rests on her Immaculate Conception. In what 
does highest human perfection consist? In the total 
absence of all sinfulness, and in the presence and posses- 
sion of all graces. 

What said the Angel of the Annunciation to her? 
" Hail ! full of grace ! '^ Therefore, her soul was full 
of grace, and, therefore, in her soul sin never had a 
place; but had she been conceived in sin, sin would 
have had a place in her, and would have emptied her 
soul of the very grace which is the greatest of all — the 
absence of the sin original, which is the root of all sin- 
fulness, and the cause of all sins. 

These are the proprieties, the reasons and the glories 
of the Immaculate Conception. All of them ? Not 
half; yet enough. But what is the meaning of the 
Immaculate Conception? Conception and death are 
the two terms of every human life. In conception, life 
begins. In death, life ends. In conception, the soul is 
united to the substance which is to form the human 
body, and the moment of that union is the first instant 



46 A CP.OWI!^ FOR OUK QUEEi^. 

of the life of man. Before the actual union of soul and 
body we cannot properly say that the child has been 
conceived, or has begun to live, though there is a some- 
thing, in mystery hidden, disposing itself little by little, 
and no on 3 knows how long, for the conditions neces- 
sary to the receiving of the soul. So, after the actual 
separation of the soul from the body we cannot say that 
man lives, or that even he is man, though something of 
him remains — his corpse, which little by little returns, 
by it3 own corruption, unto dust, while the soul has 
passed into eternity. How is it possible that an infant 
can be a sinner in its conception, that is to say, in the 
instant when its soul is united to its body? The infant 
is incapable of sin, and yet it is infected with the con- 
tagion of the sin of our lirst parents. Why ? Because 
though thousands of years afar from the hour of the 
first fall, — the moment it is conceived into it llows the 
sin-stained blood of Adam. For Adam was not only the 
first; but, because the first, he was the universal man. 
All humanity was contained in him. When he fell, all 
humanity fell with him, and this is why every child of 
his race is born fallen from grace and in sin ; so that 
every child, his in conception, can be called an innocent 
criminal — Innocent, because personally the child has 
done no wrong, but criminal, because the child is 
involved originally in the sin of him who, in himself, 
germinally contained the entire human race. Thousands 
of oak trees are contained in one single acorn, and if 
there be a flaw in the acorn, it will be reproduced in 
every tree that grows from it. 

Whence, then, to each person of oar fallen race comes 
the stain of sin ? Does it come from the soul, or does 
it come from the body? Not from the soul; because the 



PLOWEH OF THE IMMACULATE CO>n^CEPTIOX. 47 

soul is created directly by God and comes pure from His 
hands. Not from the body; because the body is not 
capable before animation of having any part iu sin. 
How then comes the stain ? The soul is innocent, and 
the unanimated body is incapable of sin. This is how. 
The instant soul and body unite, their union produces a 
child of Adam; and to be a child of Adam is to inherit 
in person, with his blood, his sin, and Avith his sin its 
penalties for soul and body. In Adam we all have 
sinned, and on account of sin we die. 

If the blessed Virgin Mary sinned in Adam, she was 
certainly conceived in sin. Did she sin in Adam? 
Was she, like the rest of the race, involved in the fail 
from grace ? There is no better p!ac3 to answer the 
question than the very scene of the primal guilt. 

Go we now there. Eve fell — Adam fell, Satan con- 
quered. But God came into that garden. What are 
His words? They breathe malediction against Satan, 
and promise benediction to the race in some future day. 
"I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and 
between thy seed and her seed." Mark, He says "I 
will." That means the future. Will God ever do any- 
thing, in any future, that He has -not decreed to do 
from all eternity? No; and why? Because if He 
would, it would be because He v/ould have a now 
thought. God cannot have new thoughts. His thoughts 
are as old as Himself — eternal. Therefore^ that enmity 
between the woman and Satan is from all eternity. It 
is not a new thought, it is an eternal decree. If eternal, 
the enmity must be always. If she v/ere conceived in 
sin the enmity would not be always, it would cease 
awhile. Then God, if He lots the enmity cease for an 
instant, in time, between the v/oman, Mary of Nazareth, 



48 A CROWK FOR OUR QUEEX. 

and the evil spirit, would contradict and contravene, 
here below, His very own eternal decree. Will He do 
it? No; why? Because He cannot do it. Why? 
Because an eternal truth would become an eternal lie. 
With God all things are possible save one; and that is 
self-contradiction . 

No, no, the common laws that rule every person of 
Adam's race do not govern the person of Mary. All 
women conceive children by men. She conceives her 
child by the operation of the Holy Ghost. All women 
bring forth in sorrow. She brought forth in gladness. 
All die in pain. She died what could scarcely be called 
a death. The separation of her soul from her body was 
a rapture. All bodies return to dust and await the day 
of resurrection. Her pure body was translated to 
heaven. As in her conceiving Christ, so in her own 
conception she stands outside and above the general 
law, an eternal exception. 

Many, in ignorance, imagine that our Holy Church, 
in proclaiming the truth of Mary's Immaculate Concep- 
tion, teaches that Mary's bod}^ as well as her soul, was 
created directly by God. Let us have pity on ignorance, 
when it cannot help itself. But who can respect that 
ignorance which, by examining, can correct itself, and 
\n\l not? If God himself had created her body, as 
well as her soul, she would not belong to the human 
race at all. Then her Son, Christ, would not belong to 
the race. Then, in no real sense, would He be man. 
Nor could He call himseli the Son of Man. 

Now, who are they who deny the truth of Mary's 
Immaculate Conception ? What is their character for 
learning and piety ? They are those who imagine (mark 
you, imagine, for they have no settled beliefs; they are 



PLOWm OF THE IMMACULATE COXCEPTIOX. 49 

not nourished by the manna of faith divine, and they try 
to satisfy their soul's hunger — do they ever satisfy it? 
God help them if they can, with the husks of human 
opinions) that by covering the conception of Mary with 
the cloak of original sin, they are placing a crown of 
greater glory on the head of Jesus Christ. Foolish 
men, and blind! Christ would tear such crown in 
twain and trample it under His feet. His glory is her 
glory, and her ignominy is His ignominy* 

Of all the moments of her life, its first instant was 
its supremest. For that first instant was to tell for her 
or against her forever. It was to be the criterion of the 
very character of her soul. If conceived in sin, she 
would be placed in the position and possibility of never 
seeing God face to face ; and more, if sin touched her, 
and she was an instant under the power of Satan, God, 
by His sanctity, was obliged to look upon her with infinite 
hatred, and to hold her in abomination. Could such a 
thing be ? And the Son of God, who was to be her 
son sixteen years afterwards, would have been obliged 
to regard His own future mother with detestation. No, 
no ; a conception in sin of God's Mother would be an 
infinite horror. It is as abhorrent to the Divinity of the 
Son as it would be unworthy of the human personality 
of His Mother Mary. But why say more ? 

Our Holy Church has defined the dogma as God had 
decreed its truth. Mary, in her conception and birth, 
is a living sacrament — she being, on earth, the living 
outward sign of the greatest grace to creature ever given. 
God's power could not go farther. In her person, God 
made the greatest act of divine love for our race that 
even He could make ; the greatest, save the greater one 
of assuming in her our human nature. And these 



50 A CROWK FOR OUR QUEEX. 

grand acts of eternal love are inseparable from one 
another. 

Not yery far from Jerusalem lived Joachim, of the 
royal tribe of Juda, with Anna, his saintly spouse. 
They were rich in flocks. They divided their riches 
into three parts : the first for the temple and the minis- 
ters of the altar; the second for the poor; and the third 
for themselves. They were faithful to the law. 

Sacred Scripture does not mention even their names; 
nor does Scripture say one word about the conception 
and birth of Mary. A veil of mysterious silence hangs 
around these two great mysteries. Eemember that the 
inspired writers have not written a single word or 
omitted to write a single thing without the special direc- 
tion of the Holy Spirit. Not a word about her concep- 
tion ; not a word about her birth ; not a word about her 
childhood; not a word about her life in the temple; not 
a single word until in the Gospel of St. Matthew we 
read : '^ And Jacob begat Joseph, the husband of Mary, 
of whom was born Jesus, who is called the Christ." 
And then not another word until in the first chapter of 
the Gospel of St. Luke we read : " The angel Gabriel 
was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Naza- 
reth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was 
Joseph, and the name of the virgin was Mary." 

What is the meaning of this mysterious silence, for 
the silences of the Scriptures have meanings as well as 
its written words ? 

Around the Eternal Father of the Eternal Son what 
a silence hangs like a holy veil. He stays in the eternal 
silences, and in infinite silence He speaks His Eternal 
Vford. So the Mother of that Eternal Word Incarnate 
wears on earth the mantle of silenc3 until the Angel of 



3FL0WER OF THE IMMACULATE COlS^CEPTIOX. 51 

the Annunciation conies. For Mary, as the Mother of 
the Son of God, is to bear a strange resemblance to His 
Eternal Father. Hance the silence that veils her birth 
and first years. 

Ah ! how many there are, outside our Holy Church, 
who read the Scriptures and make great boast of their 
knowledge, and yet read its words divine all in vain 
and miss their deepest meanings ! But since the marriage 
day of Joachim and Anna years went by; twenty years, 
says St. Jerome; forty years say others; and they bore 
the opprobrium of barrenness. No child came to bless 
their union, and a childless marriage was a humiliation 
among their people. But they waited and they prayed, 
and they hoped against hope. 

Never is the effect of grace more evident and power- 
ful than when nature is powerless. Was not Isaac, the 
Patriarch, born of Sara, who was barren? Was not 
Jacob, his son, born of Eebecca, who was barren ? Was 
not Joseph born of Rachel, Avho was barren ? Was not 
Samuel, the prophet, born of Anna, who was barren ? 
Was not Sampson, that miracle of strength, born of a 
barren mother ? Was not John the Baptist, than whom, 
by the testimony of Christ, none greater was ever born 
of woman, born of Elizabeth when she was aged and 
barren? Strange mystery! but with God all things 
are possible, and when nature is powerless. He loves to 
manifest His own power; and is there not a strange 
resemblance between barrenness and virginity, since 
both are equally without fruit? 

The prayers of Joachim and Anna were heard at last. 
St. Jerome says that the angel Gabriel announced to 
each of them separately that God would answer their 
prayers • and the glorious answer was the Immaculate 



52 A CHOWiq" FOR OUR QUEEK. 

Conception of Mary in the womb of Anna. It was a 
natural, and not a supernatural conception. The name 
Joachim signifies the Preparation of the Lord, and 
Anna signifies grace. Was the immaculateness of Mary's 
conception revealed to them ? Some writers think so. 
And now, from the sinless soul of Mary, in her mother's 
womb, ascended to God acts of worship greater than the 
angels' adorations ; for, remember, her sinless soul had 
at once the fullness of reason and the illumination of 
all the graces of the Holy Spirit. All the perfections 
of the soul of Eve in the instant of her creation were 
in the soul of Mary in the first moment of her concep- 
tion. The light of perfect understanding, the strength 
of perfect love, the perfect union of her will with the 
Divine Will, all these, 'and more, were there. In the 
first instant of her conception her soul was self-con- 
scious, and while she was corporally united to Anna, her 
mother, her soul at once became intimately united to 
God, in a union that Avas never to be broken. The life 
of her soul reached an almost infinite intensity. 

Never had God been praised as she was silently praising 
Him then. Never had God been so loved as her sinless 
soul was loving Him. Faith, hope and charity, in per- 
fection, filled her soul ; and every instant was a perfect 
act of each; and as the hours and the days and the 
months went by, and her mother waited for the moment 
of the birth of the child she bore, that child was giving 
more glory to God than all the angels in heaven. Only 
one was to give to God a greater glory ; and He Avas to 
be her Son, Jesus Christ. 

Did the angels in heaven know of the mystery ? Did 
God reveal it to them in reward for their fidelity in the 
day of their trial ? And if He did, how they must have 



FLOWEE OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTIO]S". 53 

longed for the coming of their Queen! Oh! sinless 
soul, next to the human soul of thy future Son, most 
beautiful! all pure! most glorious ! perfect with all per- 
fections! full of all graces ! sweet hope of the hopes of 
the world ! we salute thee in the mystery of thy Immac- 
ulate Conception ! we bless thee for the blessings thou 
hast received from on high! And, oh Immaculate, we 
bless thee more for the blessed Christ whom thou wilt 
bring to us in the day when thou shalt say from the 
depths of thy all pure soul: "Behold the handmaiden 
of the Lord, be it done unto me according to Ilis word." 
Is there any need to go back to the past and ask the 
saints of old to giye their testimony ? No need indeed; 
but still it might edify ; for the words of saints bear the 
seal of their sanctities. Eead the ancient liturgy con- 
taining the Masses of St. James and of St. Mark, the 
Evangelist. In the first, Mary is saluted as *'most holy, 
most glorious, immaculate, altogether outside the ranks 
of sinners." In the other, Mary is called " most holy, 
immaculate and blessed, ever Virgin Mother of God." 
Listen to St. Hyppolitus, Bishop and Martyr, nigh 
seventeen hundred years ago. He salutes Mary as 
Immaculate. And old Origen calls her "the Holy and 
Immaculate Mother of the Immaculate ; " as if he were 
drawing a parallel between the purity of the Mother 
and the purity of the Son. Hear the words of Gregory, 
the wonder worker of Neo-Csesaria : "An angel without 
a body was sent to a Virgin pure and Immaculate. He, 
who had never known sin, was sent to her who was 
spotless and without the corruption of sin/' Let Cyprian, 
the great Archbishop, speak from his throne in Car- 
thage : "Mary h like the rest of mortals in nature, but 
not in sin.'' 

6* 



54 A crow:n" por our queen. 

Fifteen hundred years ago, St Epiphanias, Bishop, 
not in preaching, but in prayer, exclaims: "Thou art 
full of grace, Oh thrice Blessed Virgin, and, after God, 
thou dost excel all creatures ! In entering this world 
thou art more beautiful than the Cherubim and Sera- 
phim.'^ Would she have been more beautiful than 
those highest of the angels, had she ever been stained 
with original sin ? Listen to the great St. Augustine, 
the prince of the doctors of the Church, in his discus- 
sion with the heretic Pelagius: "When there is ques- 
tion of sin, on account of the honor of the Lord, the 
Virgin Mary is out of the question.'' And so, from age 
to age, saint passes down to saint one grand unbroken 
testimony to the truth of the mystery cf the Immacu- 
late Conception ; and in the halls of holy councils 
echoed the word, Mary's word, " Immaculate." True, 
here and there, at times, rose a voice of hesitation, of 
uncertain sound, and sometimes of doubt; but not, all 
along the line, one single great voice of plain denial. 
Eeligious orders, confraternities, universities, cathe- 
drals, kingdoms, all adown the centuries, placed them- 
selves under the protection of Mary of the Immaculate 
Conception ; and all these traditions, of the same uni- 
versal belief, blended Avith the words of Scripture, 
expressed themselves on that eighth of December, 
eighteen years ago, in the solemn deflnition of the 
dogma. 

And was it not singularly appropriate that these 
United States, free from all tyranny, and the home of all 
thp natural rights born with men, should be placed 
under the special patronage of Mary Immaculate, who 
was free from all the tyranny of sin, and whose soul, by 
her Immaculate Conception, became the s-anctuary of 



PLOWER CF THE IMMACULATE COKCEPTIOi^. 55 

all the supernatural rights of grace ? Oh, Mary Immac- 
ulate! guard with loving care this country dedicated 
to thee. Let thy purity keep it pure. Watch over its 
institutions. As thou art the refuge of all sinners, this 
country is the refuge of the exile and the oppressed ; 
guide it ever in the ways of peace ; let it never forget its 
iiigh vocation to teach the nations of the world, by word 
and example, the principles of well regulated liberty and 
reverence for the rights of man ! Let not its prosperity 
be its ruin ! Many, alas ! of its children, who know not 
what they do, are walking in uncertain paths, which 
are dark and lead them away from truth ! Mother 
of all ! pray for us and plead for them, that we, thy 
children, may love and honor^thee more and more, and 
love and adore thy adorable Son with more fervent 
faith ; and that they who are wandering in error's path 
may, through thy intercession, return to the one fold of 
the true Shepherd, who is thy only Son forever, and our 
Saviour Jesus Christ. 



AsPIRATIOiq". 

" Cry with joy to God, all the earth. 

'^Sing ye a psalm to His name; give glory to His 
prais 

*^Say unto God: How terrible. Oh Lord! are Thy 
works ; in the multitude of Thy strength . Thy enemies 
shall LIE to Thee ! '' — Psalm, Ixw 

Prayer. 

Almighty and everlasting God, vouchsafe, we beseech 
Thee, that as we venerate with festal-solemnity the 
stainless virginity of the purest of Virgins, Mary; so 
thro' her intercession we may attain into purity both of 
mind and body. 



SEYEIITE DAY. 



%\t i),mti 0f \\^t ^irtlu 



*' I am the mother of fair love, and of fear, and of kaowlelie, and of 
holy hope. In me is all grace of the way and of the truth ; in me is all 
hope of life and of virtue."— -E'ccZ., xxiv. 

Let us go, in the spirit of faith and love, to-day to 
the thrice blessed home Avhere the Immaculate Queen of 
the blessed was born. 

Tread softly, for we are to enter a new Eden of per- 
fect innocence and highest grace. In reverence let us 
go in, as if we were passing through the gate of a 
sanctuary, where a sanctity incomparable is hiding in a 
holy tabernacle. 

Eighty days have passed since the birth of Mary. 
For a man child, as we read in Leviticus, the law 
ordained forty days of purification for the mother, and 
twice forty days for a maid child. 

Anna went to the temple and offered two doves on 
the altar, one a burnt offering and the other a sin offer- 
ing. She is purified, according to the law ; she returns 
home, praising the God of her fathers, and her soul is 
filled with the peace of a great gladness. 

On the face of the aged Joachim there shines a light 
as if it were a gleam of joy reflected from the heavens. 
The old man is thinking of the past. Strangely through 

(56) 



THE FLOWER OF THE BIRTH. 57 

his memory move the words of a hundred prophecies. 
Dim presentiments about his child fill his soul; and 
somehow, if he does not know all, he seems to feel the 
glory of her future. The words of Isaias : " The Lord 
Himself shall give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall 
conceive and bring forth a son, and his name shall be 
called Emmanuel,^' have set him dreaming; and, some- 
how, while he gazes on the face of his little Mary, he 
scarcely knows why, the words of Jeremias : " Tlie Lord 
hath created a new thing in the earth, a woman shall 
compass a man," seem to put on meanings new and 
very near to him. 

In Anna's arms the infant is nestling ; and the mother 
looks, as only mothers can look, with her heart in her 
eyes, upon her oflfspring. She, too, was a-dreaming, as 
she gathered her child to her breast in the clasp of love; 
and, like all mother's dreams, hopes and fears, desires 
and doubts, met in her soul, and yet did not destroy its 
peace. 

Ah, yes ! this is a holy place. If not the Lord, the 
Mother of the coming Lord is here, a little infant. 
How frail it seems ! What a far-off look in its eyes ! 
What a fair and beauteous face! How perfect the 
beauty of its body. No wonder in the soul within it 
the beauty of perfect grace is reigning. Look how the 
little hands are clasped, as if in prayer ! but the lips 
move not. Nearly three months old now, with a per- 
fect self-conscious soul from the first instant of concep- 
tion, — but the body must grow, little by little, like the 
rest of children. There must be nothing startling, 
nothing extraordinary in the child's external life. She 
must be just like any other child ; for the secret of her 
coming into this world, and why she came, must not yet 
be revealed. 



58 A CROWK FOR OUR QUEEi^o 

How hidden everything is about the child ! In her 
veins, even now, is flowing the very blood which Christ 
will take into Ilis humanity, and which, derived pure 
from her, the all-pure, and united to His divinity, will 
become infinite in mercy and in merits when it flows for 
us in the day of Calvary. God makes no sign. His 
future mother is a frail little infant. Ah! how the 
Father, Son and Holy Ghost, in infinite love, must have 
watched over the predestined child ! How Gabriel, her 
guardian angel, must have hovered near her ! 

How all the angels of heaven (for surely now they 
know of the mystery of Mary of Nazareth) must have 
glorified the Eternal in the contemplation of this, the 
most beautiful creature of all the Creation ! And the 
world went on just the same as ever ; the world that 
was losing the instincts of the supernatural, waiting, it 
is true, for the coming of the Messiah, but, indeed, 
little dreaming that His Mother had already come. It 
was all so still. No one saw, no one heard, no one knew 
of the mystery hidden in the dwelling of Joachim and 
Anna. It is God's way. He moves in His great designs 
strongly but sweetly. He made no noise when He 
created the heavens and earth, and He was stiller 
than ever at the cradle of Mary. Do not all grand and 
beautiful things move towards their purposes and reach 
their perfections in the silences ? 

Who hears the flowers growing, or the grasses, or the 
trees? Who hears the earth moving? Who hears 
the stars marching, like bannered hosts, through the 
heavens ? Is not nature, when it moves in harmony, 
always still ? Only when its elements are thrown out 
of order, and their forces clash, comes the din of 
confusion. 



THE FLOWER OF THE BIRTH. 59 

So in the world of supernature, the Spiritual and the 
Divine move on in a harmony beautiful as a hymn, 
heard in the heavens clearly, but too sweet to be heard 
by human sense; praiseful of God and peaceful for man. 
It is only when the weak will and strong passions of 
the human heart rise in rebellion against the laws of 
grace that the tumult comes in which Gol can never 
dwell. 

' But around Mary fell, from the first, the stillness and 
the peace of God. Why ? Because her will was in per- 
fect harmony with God's decrees and designs. Because, 
from the first moment of her life she was in perfect 
accord with the eternal will. Indeed, a mystery of 
silence folded all her life. What great strengths have 
their homes in the silences ! Ask the world's thinkers, 
and they will tell you that their deepest thoughts, and 
best, came to them, like stars, in the silences of the 
nights. Ask the world's singers, and they will tell you 
that their grandest songs came sounding through their 
souls in the stillnesses of the dark. Enter the monas- 
teries, back of whose closed gates live men gifted with 
glorious speech, and they have long hours of silences; 
and through those hours their feet walk faster towards 
God. Go into the convents of the virgins oi the Church. 
They, too, have their hours anl days of silence, in which 
the whisper of a word cannot be heard, and their hearts, 
like the lilies of the valley, are growing and whitening 
in the silence. Enter a Catholic church, without a 
single worshipper or with thousands crowded, what a 
silence ? 

The spell of the silence of the Tabernacle falls on 
them all. And that Tabernacle-silence ; how mysteri- 
ous, and yet how mighty ? In the half-hour Mass in 



60 A CROWK FOR OUR QUEE:^^, 

the morning what a silence comes down upon the Altar 
when the priest reaches the moment of consecration, 
when infinite love and infinite power hide themselves in 
the stillness of a little white host? And the church 
itself, what a silence she keeps about the deposit of 
Christ's revelations in her possession. How the years 
pass — she the while listening to human discussions, 
with the quiet patience of Christ at Pilate's tribunal, 
before she rises and proclaims her dogmas. 

Human churches, like the men who founded them, 
are noisy. In them is the everlasting chatter of dis- 
cordant tongues about changeable opinions. They are 
always talking, and at random. The Church of Christ 
inherits the stillness as well as the speech of Christ, 
and she never says an unnecessary word. 

How still are the rays of the sun that bring to us the 
light of heaven. In their coming they make no noise, 
but when they do come they clothe the world with robes 
of glory. So Mary was to bring to us the light of the 
sun of justice. Heard ye ever the snow-flakes falling? 
Silently they fall, and they weave a virgin-veil for earth. 
So the Virgin of virgins came silently, to weave out of 
her pure flesh the veil of Christ's humanity. How 
silently in the bosom of nature, where poor earth is as 
a virgin, is she, unknown to us, giving birth, like a 
fruitful mother, to emeralds, pearls, amethysts, diamonds 
and a hundred other beautiful children of clay ? 

Only those elements which are like man's variable 
will and restless passions make din and discord here 
below; the sea, with its stormy waves; the air, with its 
changeful Avinds; the rivers, with their rise and fall and 
noisy flow; the clouds, with their lightnings and thun- 
ders ; fire, with its angry violences ; and in the brute 



THE FLOWER OF THE BIKTH. 61 

creation, those animals only which, in voice and ferocity, 
seem to symbolize the destructive power of sin in man. 

Have we strayed away from the little Mary in the 
arms of Anna? Not at all. We have never left the 
holy chamber. Look! the infant has fallen asleep. 
Let us not awake her ! Speak low, No ! pray low. Oh ! 
infant, in whose heart the bloo I of our Redeemer is 
even now b3ating, dream your dreams divine, but dream 
in pity, too, and in love of us poor sinners ! Come now 
from the sleeping child to the Altar where her Christ, 
and ours, is sleeping in the Eucharist. 

It is the eighth of September, the Feast of the Nativ- 
ity. This month the sun passes, in the zodiac, out of 
the sign of the lion into the sign of the virgin. So into 
her was to pass, and over us was to shine forever, the 
sun of justice; and the sign of the lion, which is the 
sign of tiiatevil one, "who goath about like a roaring 
lion, seeking whom he may devour," would be subjected 
forever to the sign of the virgin in the zodiac of the 
heaven of grace. 

According to a tradition, from the beginning, Mary 
was born on the eighth day of September. Listen to 
St. Ambrose. The eighth day, or octavo, is not a day 
of time. It is a day of eternity. "The octave is the 
crowning of our hope." Our time is reckoned by weeks, 
and the week has but seven days. When the week ends 
we begin one again, and count from the first to the 
seventh day. Beyond the seventh we do not pass, and 
thus the eighth day is not in the measurement of time, 
and the day that passes beyond the calendar of the week 
of time is of eternity. See you not the mystical reason 
why the octave should be her birthday, for with her 
birthday dawned the eternal day of Christ. The dawn 



63 A CROWK FOR OUR QUEEiT. 

came first ; the sun is coming soon. So, back in the far 
ages, our Holy Church commemorates Mary's nativity 
on the eighth day of September. What other church 
celebrates it ? The Greek church ; yes. What other ? 
None. If they celebrate the birth of Christ on Christ- 
mas clay, why not celebrate the nativity of Christ's 
Mother ? Does ever the sun of nature come without 
the dawn ? and, in supernature's heavens, the sun of 
justice has, necessarily, his Aurora. If you keep the 
birth of the sun of justice in the noon of Christmas 
night, why not keep the feast of the dawn of the sun, in 
Mary's birth, in September? Ah! you want the sun, 
but you disdain its dawn ! Have your way, but it is 
neither nature's nor supernature's way. We follow the 
way of both — Lhe Catholic way. 

Look ! the priest is coming to the Altar, with the 
chalice and the bread. lie is going to sing the Mass. 
Was it wrong for her to have been born ? Is it then 
wrong to celebrate ker birthday ? Do you not keep the 
birthdays of the great anil the illustrious, who were 
often, alas, great sinners ? Do you not keep the birth- 
day of your own mothers, and can you let the birthday 
of the Mother of Christ pass as any other common day, 
and all unnoticed? Go on! priest of the Son of Mary, 
and celebrate the sacrifice of Him who was sin's victim, 
and is our Saviour and Mary's son. 

Ah ! Holy Church, thou art beautiful in thy mind, 
for the light of truth is shining ever there; and thou 
art beautiful in thy heart, for the love of Christ is ever 
throbbing there ; and thou art beautiful in thy memory 
of the holy ones of God, writing their names on the 
brows of all thy days ; keeping feasts in their honor, 
but, above all, holding in eternal remembrance, at the 
Altar of the victim, His Mother's holy name. 



THE FLOWER OF THE BIRTH. 63 

Listen to the first words of the Mass in honor of 
Mary's nativity : " Thy Urth, oh Virgin Mary ! Mother 
of the Son of God, has announced joy to all the world, 
lecanse thou hast Irought forth the Sun of Justice, Jesus 
Christ, our God, who, talcing aiuay malediction, gave 
benediction, and confounding death, gave unto us eternal 
life:' 

Are they not true, true as very Scripture ? Do they 
honor or dishonor Christ, her son ? From the lips of 
the priest they ascend to the heavens. Is Christ angry? 
Are the words a sin against Him ? Is He afraid to hear 
His Mother praised, lest He might, thereby, lose a part 
of His glory? Why then did He make her so glorious? 
Why did He make her His Mother ? Can He ever be 
jealous of her who conceived Him, gave Him birth, 
nursed Him, watched over His childhood, and stood at 
the foot of His cross ? Has she not the right to be for- 
ever remembered as His Mother, and, if remembered, 
forever praised on earth ? Priest, sing the Gloria ! The 
song belongs to Him, but it was not sung until He had 
become hers. It belongs to both. Now go to the 
Gospel side, and sing the Gospel of the day. 

Listen ! '^ The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, 
the son of David, the son of Abraham.'^ Abraham begot 
Isaac ; and Isaac begot Jacob, and Jacob begot Judas and 
his brethren,'^ and down a long and glorious ancestry of 
patriarchs, prophets, princes and kings, from name to 
name, moves the inspired pen of Matthew, Apostle and 
Evangelist, until it pauses thus: "And Jacob begot 
Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, 
who is called the Christ.'' The moment her name is 
written, His, the Christ's, is linked to it. Such was His 
and her ancestry. 



GJr A CPvOWK FOK OUR QUEEK. 

But she was to have but one descendantj Jesus Christ 
our Saviour. She closes the "Book of the Generation 
of Jesus Christ." Take her name away, then take His. 
But she herself was, and is, the living book of the 
generation of Christ. How ? Listen ! In God was 
infinite and eternal thought. He expressed that thought 
in His Eternal Word — His only Son. But this thought, 
eternally conceived in the mind of God and eternally 
expressed, remained hidden in the Trinity. No one saw 
it, no one heard, no one knew it, save the three Divine 
persons. God willed to speak this Word outside of 
Himself and eternity, in time, and God willed to write 
this Word in a living book, that it might be heard and 
read forever. Mary received the secret thought of God 
and the invisible Word. Through her it was spoken in 
time and became Incarnate. In her pure flesh it was 
written and became visible. She does not express the 
Word as the Father does, but she bears it written in 
herself, and she makes it visible in the humanity of 
Jesus Christ, her son, to all the world. 

While I am writing these words, the dawn of day is 
beginning to gild the eastern horizon, and to glimmer 
over the waves of the Gulf of Mexico. The waves, only 
a hundred yards away from where I write, are just 
waking from sleep. Last night they were very still. 
Not a wave sang or moaned on the pure, white shore, 
and now they seem glad for the coming of the day. Far 
out on the waters, the sails of the fishing boats have 
welcomed the beautiful dawn. I am thinking of Mary, 
not as the star of the sea, but I am thinking of her 
birth, as the dawn of the everlasting day of Christ. 
Perhaps, the sweetest hour of the day is that of the 
Aurora, aicrea liora^ golden hour, which banishes the 



THE FLOWER OF THE BIRTH. 65 

darkness of the night and brings the light of the day. 
Out there, on the moss-veiled trees, the birds are begin- 
ning to sing their morning prayers. Light to the waking 
waves and joy to the wakened wild birds, the fair Aurora 
brings. Why ? The waves and the birds know why. 
The sun, in his glory, will soon be born out of the heart 
of the Aurora. What a virginal light it is ! The Aurora 
is the day's virgin, and, while it is the pure child created 
by the coming sun, it seems to be the mother that brings 
forth the sun, which gives to the day its golden hours, 
to the earth its fairest beauties, and to the heavens its 
wondrous glory. 

So Mary, in her birth, is the virgin created by tne 
Son of God. In a little while the virgin, because she is 
a virgin, will become His Mother; and as the sun of 
day, when he rises above the horizon, does not destroy 
the light of dawn, but gathers its beautiful light into 
his own splendors and carries it with him up into the 
heavens ; so when the Sun of Justice, clothed with the 
splendors of His Eternal Father, will rise over the 
world. He will gather into His glory and blend with 
His infinite light, as He ascends on high, the fair, sweet 
light of His Mother Mary. 

And as the Aurora came before the sun, and follows 
the sun wheresoever he shineth, inseparable from his 
last rays as from his first, so the Virgin Mother, in her 
pure human light, will follow and be mingled with the 
light of Him who " enlightens every one that cometh 
into the world.'^ 

Oh fair light I oh sweet light i oh gentle light! shine 
on our days ! Shine o'er our ways forever! and, as thou 
wert the beautiful dawn of Christ in this world, be the 
dawn of the day of thy children's blessed eternity. 



66 A CROWi^ FOR OUR QUEEiq". 

Aspiration. 

All the glory of the King's daughter is within, in 
golden borders, — clothed round about with vanities. 
After her virgins shall be brought to the King. They 
shall be brought with gladness and rejoicing. They 
shall be brought into the temple of the King. 

Prayer. 

Vouchsafe, Lord, we beg of Thee, to grant us, Thy 
servants, the gift of heavenly grace; that as in the 
childbirth of the Blessed Virgin, our salvation began, 
we may obtain an increase of peace. 




EIGHTH DAY. 



%\xt i,\mtx 0f lite ^[^mi^. 



" I came out of the mouth of the Most High ; the first-hom before all 
creatures. I made, that ia the heavens there should rise light that 
never f aileth, and as a cloud I covered all the earth. I dwelt in the 
highest places, and My throne is in a pillar of a cloud." 

There is mystery ia names. All objects come to 
our understanding through their different names. The 
objects themselves are more than mere names, but they 
must be named in order to be clearly known, though 
when named, they may not be fully known. Names 
distinguish things each from the other. Names are the 
titles of things. What is nameless is unknown, and has 
no real existence for us. The nameless is a nothing. 
Names are symbols that cannot be separated from their 
objects without producing confusion in speech as well 
a3 chaos in the mind. Each object owns, in its own 
right, its own name, and cannot be robbed of it. The 
lily is a lily, and the rose is a rose, and each must keep 
its own exclusive title in order to be known. All speech 
is based primarily on nouns, which are names of objects. 
This is the fundamental part of every language, and the 
other parts of speech have meanings only as they refer 
to names. But names of intelligent beings are greater 
than names of mere material things; because the higher 
the object in the ascending scale of creation, the greater 
the name. The name of God is supreme and incommu- 
nicable. He alone can bear it 

(67) 



G8 a CROWi^ rOS OUR QUEEisr. 

Angels in heaven have each their particular name, 
the mark of their individuality in the angelic world. 
Some of their names, by revelation, we know, and each 
of their names has a special, exclusive meaning ot its 
own. Michael, the prince of the heavenly hosts, Raphael, 
Gabriel, are not only named in heaven, but their names 
are known on earth. In the human race, each child of 
Adam has his own especial name. 

In the Christian order, we each receive our name in 
baptism, as in the old covenant days the Hebrews 
received theirs on the day of circumcision. Unlike the 
angels, we have family names, for we are the offspring 
of human generation, having fathers and mothers. Not 
so the angels. They have special names, but the name 
of the particular choir in the heavenly hierarchy to 
which they belong corresponds to our family name. 
Think as you please, we and our names go together, and 
is it strange ? our names will last longer than ourselves. 
When the souls of men have gone to eternity and their 
bodies to the resting place of the dead, their names still 
live ; some a little while, some a longer while, some for 
ages, and a few forever. Our merit or demerit passes 
into our names, remains there, and lasts after we have 
passed away 

Human history is a necrology. From tne days of 
Adam until yesterday, it is names, and the name of the 
dead that give life to the record of human events. 
Mortal men are made immortal by their names ; and, 
ah ! fallen from our first estate, though we are, what 
glorious names have been written in the annals of our 
race. Beyond the Messiah's day, out of the days of the 
law of nature, Adam, Abel, Seth, Abraham, Isaac, Jacoo, 
Joseph, then Moses, Aaron, Miriam, Joshua, Esther, 



l-HE FLOAYEPt OE IHJE KAME. 69 

David, Solomon, Isaias, Jeremias, Ezechiel, Daniel, 
Zacharias, Malachy and others not here named, God's 
instruments in the order of providence. And in the outer 
world, lying in the darkness of idolatry, conqueror?, 
poets, philosophers, whose names are living still, and 
who, in their day and way, unconsciously furthered the 
designs of God; and all to prepare the world for the 
coming of Him whose name is above all names, Jesus 
Christ. But before His name is written on the first 
page of the ISTew Testament, we read the name of Mary. 
Her name was the morning star that shone before the 
sun of His name rose on the horizon of human history. 

His earthly name, Jesus Christ, is as incommunicable 
as His nam.e in eternity, the Eternal Word; and it was 
His Mother who, giving Him his humanity, gave Him, 
according to the angel's word, the adorable name, Jesus. 
"And thou shalt call His name Jesus." His name is 
the light of the world, but He would not have borna 
that name had not His Mother borne Him. 

In the eclipses of your souls, and, ah ! their shadows 
f^ll on all, and when you cry for less of dark and more 
of bright, do you not call on the name of Jesus, the 
eternal light? His Mother gave Him His name. Can 
you forget that ? 

His name is a name of strength, and when you are 
weak and passion is strong, and you feel yourselves 
unequal to cope with the power of evil, do you not have 
recourse to the power of the name of Jesus ? Well, His 
Mother named Him so. Always remember that. And. 
His name is Truth, and Hope, and Love, and Everlast- 
ing Life; and His name Jesus has infinite beautiful 
meanings besides. The evangelists named Him Christ; 
and asked, before His passion, "Art thou Christ ? " He 



70 A CROWK rOR OUR QUEEK. 

ans wered, the Higli Priest: ^^Tbou liast said it." But 
His greater name, His Saviour name, is Jesus! and His 
Mother gave it to Him. 

In your sins and in your sorrows, do you fall down 
before the Saviour Jesus, and plead for the mercy He 
never refuses ? Do you breathe His name as if it were 
the very breath of the life of your souls? Eemember 
that the mother who bore Him named Him, and love 
and honor His Mother's name. And His Mother's name 
is Mary, and, next to His, that name is the highest and 
the holiest 

Thousands bear the Virgin Mother's nam^e and g'orify 
it by their virtues, but manj^ alas, are named with her 
name who are not w^orthy to bear it. In no Mary on 
earth, does, or can, the name mean what it means in her. 
And what does it mean in her ? It has depths we can- 
not fathom. It has heights we cannot touch. It has 
beauties beyond the reach of words, no matter how 
beautiful. It has glories beyond the reach of loftiest 
thought. It has real meanings of relations to Christ, 
which never have been and never can be told. It has 
mystical meanings of relations to the Father and the 
Holy Spirit beyond our comprehension. It has spiritual 
meanings of relations with the angelic world and with 
ours, which nor man nor angel can adequately describe. 
It is, in a sense, an eternal name, for the name w^as 
appointed to her in the eternal decree of her predestina- 
tion. St. Peter Damian says, that the name of Mary 
came directly out of the treasury of the Divinity. 

Father, Son and Holy Ghost decreed the name from 
all eternity. It was praised and glorified by the angels 
from the beginning of the world. It is the name of 
alliance between heaven and earth, and God and man ; 



THE PLOWER OP THE NAME. 71 

not in the infinite sense in which the name of Jesus 
Christ bears that title, but in the highest and holiest 
sense which the name of a finite creature can reach. It 
is a name fragrant with all spiritual sweetnesses. It is a 
mirror which reflects more of the light of the name of 
Jesus Christ than all the rest of creation. It is the 
everlasting accord of the name of Jesus. They have 
sounded together from all eternity, Jesus and Mary, the 
divine note and the human note, in the glorious hymn 
of God's mercy. Sound either apart, and the music is 
falso. Each note is in need of the other in the true 
song of redemption. 

Her name is the pure and sacred vase which contains 
the chrism of the name of Christ. Her name is the 
holy lamp of the wisest of virgin of virgins, which 
burns with the divine oil of the name of Christ. Her 
name is a crown in which are intertwined all human per- 
fections, all spiritual grace and glories only inferior to 
God's. Her name is a garden, "a closed garden," full 
of flowers, which bloom with the beauty ot God. Her 
name is a pure fountain, high up on the loftiest moun- 
tains of the sanctities, whence flows to us, and over the 
world forever, the holy stream of Christ's most precious 
blood, with salvation in its every crimson drop. Her 
name is the mysterious tree, with one root in the Trinity 
and the other on earth, in Joachim and Anna, which 
has produced the fruit cf eternal life, Jesus Christ 
Her name is like the "burning bush," which Moses saw, 
growing on sinless ground and flaming with the light of 
the name Jesus. Her name is like the ark of the new 
covenant, with the manna of the name of Christ within it 

Her name is the pure, white, finite shore that girdles 
the sea of the infinite. Her name is the golden cloud. 



72 A CROWK POU OUB QUEEK. 

floating in the heavens and over the earth, with not one 
dark spot on it, and filled with the splendors of the 
Divinity. Her name is like the pilhir of fire that goes 
before the chosen people, guiding them across the bleak 
deserts of time, to the land of eternal promise — it, the 
pillar, and the name of Jesus the fire that flames around 
it. Her name is like the dove of the deluge, bearing 
the olive branch of the peace of the name of Christ 
across the angry waters to all who are in the ark of sal- 
vation. Her name is the beautiful gate that opens into 
the temple of grace. Her name is the holy, mysterious 
veil that hangs before the Holy of Holies, where dwells 
the living name of Christ. 

Her name is like a valley, where the flowers of the 
graces of the name of Christ bloom forever in the bright 
spring-tide and summer-days of Mercy. Her name is the 
star, with never shadow on it, that shines the highest 
and the brightest in the heavens of faith and hope and 
love, to which the magnet of the heart of every storm- 
tossed mariner on the sea of life is turned, the polar 
star of heaven, with the light of Jesus in it, to guide 
their way and lead them to the eternal haven. Her 
name is the glorious rainbow of peace and hope, span- 
ning all the days of time, from the garden of Eden to 
the valley of judgment, on which the light of the Sun 
of Justice shines forever reflected, and beneath which 
walk the generations who love the name and keep the 
law of her Divine Son. 

From the beginning of the Church, all down the cen- 
turies until this very day, true faith has bound together 
the names of Jesus and 5Iary, as they were bound 
together in the great decree of mercy in eternity; as 
their persons were bound together in the promise in 



THE FLOAVER OF THE XAME. 73 

Eden, and as they were bound together in the bond of 
the birth in Bethlehem, the bond of blood, and as they 
were bound together on the hill of Calvary, in the bond 
of sorrow. Separate one name from the other, and the 
mystery of the Incarnation is a broken thing. The 
name of Jesus leans on the name of Mary for its human 
meaning, as much and as really as the name of Jesus 
leans on the name of the Eternal Father for its divine 
meaning. 

Iso wonder that the name of Mary sounds round the 
altar of her Son in our Holy Church. Say the Apostles 
Greed. First is named God, the Father ; then Jesus 
Christ, His only Son, "who was conceived by the Holy 
Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary." His name is linked 
to the Father's, the Holy Ghost's name to His, and to 
the Holy Ghost is linked the name of the Virgin Mary. 
So the Christian Creed binds the names together. Can 
that Church be called Christian that will break the holy 
circle of the four names ? No. In the Greek Church, 
and the others of Eastern rites, they keep, as we, the 
names forever united in their liturgies as in their creeds. 
And if the Creed be right, we and they are right. Alas! 
for the so-called churches who have banished the name 
of Mary from their services; or who, if they speak her 
name, do it in halting tone and bated breath. The 
New Testament is, in highest sense, the everlasting 
^' Religious Service '' of man's redemption, and the pre- 
lude to it is ever the same, it begins vdth the name of 
Mary, of whom was born Christ. 

Oh ! Holy Church, thou art the living New Testa- 
ment, not written by human hands, but formed by the 
Holy Spirit; thou art the speakiLg New Testament, 
and wheresoever thou goest, thou art true to all the 



74 A CROWJS" roE ouk queeit. 

truth of redemption, which is human and divine, and 
which comes to the world with two inseparable names 
impressed upon it, names which are the signs of heaven 
and of earth — Jesus and Mary ! 

Truths must be revealed to be believed, and beliefs 
must be taught to be accepted ; but faiths must have 
festivals. In what Church, outside of ours, is feast kept 
in honor of the Holy Name of Mary ? In none. No 
wonder, then, our Holy Church has feasts besides her 
Sundays. Must the *' communion of saints '^ lie in the 
Creed, a mere, cold dogma, to be read with the eyes and 
accepted by the mind, — only that and nothing more? 
No, no, the truly, fully Christian heart needs something 
more. Dogm.as must have days of festival, when they 
clothe themselves with earthly beauty, and thus appeal 
to faith's high and holy emotions ; and holy names, as 
well, must have their holy-days. The calendar of the 
Church is spiritual, not secular. The world keeps feasts 
of great events and of names which it considers great, 
and it is well; but we, we celebrate events still greater, 
and commemorate names by sanctity made immortal; 
and next to the name of the all-holy, Jesus Christ, what 
reason can forbid feast in honor of His purest Mother 
Mary? So, scattered through the months of the year, 
are days set apart to honor the Mother who has honored 
all the days of time. In each of the feasts in which she 
receives the homage of our honor, beside her stands 
Christ, who alone claims our adoration; while in every 
feast of His in which He demands our supreme worship, 
she stands beside Him and claims her honors as His 
Mother. 

In the spring-tide, when the sun, greatening in bright- 
ness and growing in warmth, announces the comang of 



THE FLOWER OF THE KAME. 75 

the flowers, we keep the feast of the Angelical Annun- 
ciation. When summer, like a queen, assumes all her 
splendors in the month of August, we celebrate the feast 
of Mary's glorious assumption and coronation. When 
autumn comes, and men are gathering the fruits of the 
year, we commemorate, in September, the festival of the 
nativity of Mary, who was the purest fruit of prophecy 
and promise. In the mid of winter, when nature looks 
like death, we keep, with Mary, in Bethlehem, the great 
festival of the birth of the Giver of that life that never 
dies; and strewn between these greater festivals, are 
other days, blessed and bright in their dedication to the 
blessed Mary. 

But days pass — their life is only twenty-four hours ; 
they do not last. But temples last; monuments last ; 
orders of men and women last ; hymns last. Go through 
every country in Europe ; look upon those grand temples 
built in the ages of faith; cell them dark, if you v/ill, it 
is the fashion, and ignorance is imitative, but show us 
in modern days brighter monuments. Show us grander 
art. Match by modern skill, if you can, the magnifi- 
cence of those minsters conceived in the heart and built 
by the hands of true faith. You cannot do it. Your 
age is too material. It is the age of factories, not the 
age of temples. It has lost the instincts of spiritual 
beauty; it is building the material on the ruins of the 
spiritual. It is an age of reason; yes, but a reason 
growing materialized and forgetting how to believe. It 
worships in the workshop of man, not in the temple of 
God. These eyes that guide this pen have looked, in a 
wonder passing all w^ords, upon those monuments whose 
histories are ages and ages; and how many of them bear 
the name of the Blessed Virgin Mary ? It is beyond 



76 A CKOWK POR OUR QUEEN. 

our reckoning. From the marble stones hidden in 
humility deep down in the ground; and, like unknown 
saints, forming the unseen foundation, up to where the 
cross, on lofty tower, kisses the skies, comes the evidence 
of the veneration of the people for the name of Mary. 
Enter the grand aisles leading up to the Christian's 
Holy of Holies. At either side altars stand, like sleep- 
less sentinels, to guard the sacramental presence in its 
own special shrine; and sure you are to find an altar 
dedicated to Mary there, and sometimes her own altar 
is, like herself, the altar-mother where her Son in the 
Eucharist rests. 

The stories of the joys and sorrows, the triumphs and 
tears of souls innumerable, seem still to live in the 
silences of those glorious temples. Every stone you tread 
on has its memories. If the feast days pass, the temples 
last. It was a rule of the Cistercians to dedicate all 
their churches and chapels and monasteries to the 
Blessed Virgin Mary. In our Holy Church there is 
nothing dead. Its truths spring into eternal life in 
dogmas, its devotion makes itself visible in the material 
structure of glorious temples; but it goes farther, and 
enshrines its thoughts and love of Christ and Mary in 
the holy hymns of Christian poesy. Open the Breviary 
of the priest and the Missal of the Altar; and read. Out 
of the hearts of her children, some known but most of 
them unknown, sound songs thrilling with adoration of 
Christ and honor of Mary. These songs of music, all 
spiritual, live on the lips of the priests, and ascend to 
heaven, breathed by faith, all over the world, day and 
night ; for the Church that is forever preaching is for- 
ever praying, and the Church that is forever praying is 
forever singing Christ's and Mary's praises. But songs, 
after all, are only words. Love of Christ and Mary calls 



THE FLOWER OF THE KAME. 77 

for living hymns, and has them. Count, if you can, 
the religious associations of men and women who are 
living prayers and living songs of praise. 

Enter the monasteries, where men of highest faith 
abide. Go into the cells of those self-made prisoners. 
They have preferred the slavery of Christ to the free- 
dom of the world. They are aiming at perfection. Ask 
them how they are striving to reach it,, and they will 
surely tell you this : ^^ Here we love and adore Christ, 
and here we love and honor His holy mother, Mary.'^ 
That is the secret, as well as solace, of their lives. 

Enter the gates of a hundred thousand convents, 
where, like '^ doves in the clefts of the rocks," dwell the 
virgins of the Church. They lead the life of purity and 
prayer. Ask them what brought them there. Ask 
them what keeps them there. Ask them why their 
faces wear that look, common to them all, of such 
unworldly peace. They will tell you: Loye of God. 
Ask them who is their model. They will tell you, as if 
the very name were a prayer : the Blessed Virgin Mary. 
Mary is living her olden life over again in them. 
They are virgins like her, but like her, they are mothers 
too, spiritual mothers, who, by their sacrifices and 
prayers, are bringing forth Christians into the Church, 
as Mary brought forth Christ into the world. 

Oh ! holy name of Mary, how thou art glorified in 
our Holy Church! True, thou art crowned queen in 
the heavens, but still thou art living with us on earth, 
in the beautiful vows of our virgins. The bishops and 
priests of the Church, under the Pontiff-chief, are the 
guard of honor of the names of Jesus and Mary. 

Christ had a Virgin Mother. Christ has a virgin 
Church, and the virgin Church must have priests who 

*7 



78 A C.^OWi^ FOR OUR QUEEN. 

will bo the virgin fathers of souls. From the Pontiflf 
down to the humblest soldier-priest in the ranks of that 
guard of honor, faith in Christ the Adorable and love 
of Mary the Immaculate are the only watchword of all 
the days, and the battle-call and the triumph-cry. That 
watchword never changes. 'Tis forever ringing down 
the ranks. 

What though sometimes a traitor deserts ? Another 
soldier takes his place, and leaves no break in the line; 
and high over the ranks float, side by side, the glorious 
ensign of Jesus Christ and the beautiful banner of 
Mary. March on, true soldiers of the cross ! You never 
can halt here below. The enmity between Satan and 
the woman lasts forever, and between her seed and his 
seed. In battle for Christ, you battle for her. Jesus 
and Mary watch the everlasting conflict. March on in 
the bravery of faith, in the confidence of hope, in the 
enthusiasm of love; and fadeless crowns of victory shall 
grace your brows, when, stainless as the hour they 
were placed in your hands, and wreathed with a thou- 
sand glories, you enter in triumph the gates of heaven 
and lay at the feet of the Eternal Father the standard 
of Jesus Christ and the banner of Mary. 



ASPIRATIQ]^. 

Holy Mary, Mother of God ! pray for us sinners now 
and at the hour of our death. 

Prayer. 
Grant, we beseech Thee, Almighty God, that Thy 
faithful, who rejoice beneath the name and protection of 
the ever Blessed Virgin Mary, may, by her holy inter- 
cession, be delivered from all earthly evils, and reach 
the eternal joys of heaven. 



NINTH DAY. 



%\<t iSmtt 0f the Wm. 



*' Hearken, daughter, and see, and incline thy ear and forget thy 
people and thy father's house. And the King shall greatly desire thy 
beauty, for He is the Lord thy God and Him they shall adore."— 

Fsalm^ xliv. 

CaljILY went on the days in the home of Jocichim 
and Anna. 

It was the happiest home earth ever had. What 
cared the holy couple about the great noisy world with- 
out them ? They never had mingled in it much ; and 
now since Mary had come to bless the evening of their 
days, — and the mornings and evenings of all days;— 
and they had a beautiful world of their own, little 
thought they of the great world lying without. A 
journey to Jerusalem, a visit to the Temple on the Feast 
days of the Law,— a brief stay, and a hurried return 
were the only things to interrupt the quietness of their 
life. 

They had been childless so long that Jerusalem 
wondered much when it heard of Mary's birth. They 
would ask Joachim about his little child; but unlike 
the aged, Joachim was not garrulous. He kept his own 
counsel. His words were few, and his questioners saw 
that somehow he seemed shy of speaking about her. 
Two years passed away. The child had begun to speak. 
I wonder what was the first word lisped by the child's 
pure lips ? Seldom did the feet of strangers or visitors 



80 A CROWK FOR OUR QUEEX. 

pass the threshold of that secluded home. But, betimes 
some would come. But whoso came, went away in 
wonderment of her beauty; and somehow they were 
moved by a something in her face and ways and words 
diflBicult to divine. It was as if they had caught a 
glimpse of Heaven, or seen an angel in earthly form. 
They went their way carrying in their hearts the 
memory of the lovely child. And so Jerusalem heard 
of her wondrous beauty and began to busy itself about 
the child's future. Marriage was the dream of the 
maidens of Judea, — as marriage is the dream of most of 
their Christian sisters. To be the mother of the Mes- 
siah, — to bring forth Him who was to be King of Kings 
forever and to save their nation, — this was the unspoken 
thought and intense desire of their hearts. And who 
could blame the Hebrew maidens whose souls were the 
shrine of a desire so pure and holy? But ah ! how little 
they and their priests knew of the ways of God ! Their 
idea of the Messiah was carnal. They looked for Plim 
coming in the pomp of secular glory. The clearness of 
the meanings of prophecy had grown dim. True, they 
read or heard read the words, but their spiritual signifi- 
cations were hidden from their minds. 

Joachim belonged to one of the priestly orders, — so 
around the temple courts where, after the evening sacri- 
fice had been offered, the priests and their children con- 
gregated, there was frequent talk of Joachim's designs 
about his beautiful child. Is it curious or not, that 
world-talk seldom touches God's thoughts ? Little did 
those talkers know the future of Joachim's Mary. In 
her home there was a stillness about her like the silence 
in the Holy of Holies. She spoke not often ; and when 
she did, her voice was very lov/ as if she were afraid to 



THE FLOWER OE THE VOW. 81 

let it speak, — lest it might tell some secrets hidden as 
yet down in her heart, — and its tones were tremulous 
with a sweetness indefinable. And how she loved her 
holy parents ; nor was child ever loved as she was loved 
by them. She learned the prayers prescribed by the 
Law. In morning and evening times she would kneel 
down beside her mother, with her fiice lifted like an 
angel's, towards the heavens, and pray as none had ever 
prayed before. Did the angels hush their songs in 
heaven when the breath of her prayer ascended ? Did 
new, strange glories, never by the hosts of heaven seen 
before, gleam from the face of the All-beautiful God, 
as He listened to the child- prayers of II is future 
mother ? And did ^he Father feel a divine impatience 
for the coming of the hour when He was to send Gabriel, 
the Angel of the Throne, with His prayer to the Virgin ? 

Sometimes, as quietly as the sunshine, she would steal 
away into the garden that surrounded the house, — and 
breathe her prayers where the flowers were blooming 
and the roses were resting, — but sweeter the breath of 
her lips than the breath of their leaves. Ah ! happy 
flowers that heard her prayers ! Ah ! blessed roses that 
felt the touch of her pure hand ! 

How mysteriously shy the little child was growing 
day after day, as if she were hiding a mystery in her 
soul! 

In the long, calm evenings, resting on her mother's 
breast, — still as a Host upon an altar, she would listen 
with a rapt attention even in her far-ofi* look to her 
father's voice w^hile he spoke of the history of their race 
and explained the prophecies announcing the coming of 
the Messiah. And when he would speak in tones full 
of pathos of the growing wickedness of even the chosen 



82 A CROWK FOU OUR QUEEK. 

people and of the fearful, wide-spread idolatries of all 
the nations, the little child would nestle closer in her 
mother^s arms with, such a look of infinite pity in her 
eyes. And she would ask questions of strangest kind 
that made them marvel much. And when he would 
speak of the days of the exile in Egypt ; and of Bethle- 
hem, the birth-place of David his oyal ancestor and of 
Jerusalem where factions were dividing men and almost 
breaking to fragments the old inherited faith, she would 
sometimes startle, a? if strange presentiments, like clouds 
across skies, were moving over her soul. Who will ever 
know how much she knew in those the first days of her 
life ? And who will ever know if what, she did know, 
was in her soul clear, as a ray or dim as a shadow ? 

They sometimes saw the mist of tears in her eyes, — 
and they wondered why. In her sleep they heard her 
sometimes sigh, — and they were sad. 

But she often smiled and then the very light of 
heaven shone upon her face. Only Joachim and Anna 
and the child Mary in that humble home ? No more? 

Ah no ! The Archangel of the Throne, Gabriel, 
hovered unseen round his ward, with ceaseless vigi- 
lance; — and hosts of other angels were with him there. 
That home was a very Heaven, for its Queen was there. 
She had not won her crown as yet, — but she will surely 
win it. Did she ever see them ? If she did, she made 
no sign. And, meantime, her sinless soul was ascend- 
ing higher and still higher in the immense sphere of 
grace. 

Those were still days on earth. The mystery kept its 
hiding place. But those were grand days in Heaven. 
To the clear vision of the angels, as from the Face of 
God, come new revelat'ons of glory hour after hour in 



y< 



THE FLOWER OF THE VOW. 83 

the cycles of eternity, — so to them came from the soul 
of Mary, day after day, new unfoldings of ineflfable 
beauties. 

And so went on the days. Dil }'ou ever see a golden 
cloud in the summer sky, full of water by the heavens 
purified, and all wrapped round with the robes of the 
sun ? And in its waters floats the very life of the 
flowers of the earth. And the cloud bends low in love 
for the earth. And it opens its heart and the rain 
comes down with the warmth and the ight of the sun 
in its every drop. And they fall on the flowers and on 
the trees and the humble grasses, — when lo ! a new life 
comes into them all. And though they were nearly 
a-dying, they brighten again and are filled with joyous, 
abounding life, by the beautiful baptism of Nature. 
So, in those days, Mary's soul was the golden cloud 
that had risen on high from the earth, robad with the 
rays of the Sun of Justice, — and containing the very 
waters of life eternal. Wait awhile, — and the golden 
cloud will open its bosom, — and bend down to earth 
again, and out of it will come, the pure human-divine 
drops of fhe mercy of the blood of Jesus Christ. 

It was a long day in the ending of summer. She was 
never demonstrative, — but all that day she was hovering 
around her parents. Her very heart seemed to be going 
out of her to them. A new strange expression shone on 
her face. And it was a day of many questions too, about 
God and the Messiah. She looked as if she were going 
to reveal something. They remarked it wonderingly. 
But the day passed, — and not a word. When the twi- 
light's shadows fell around their home, Joachim and 
Anna and Mary entered the garden. She was holding 
her father's hand. They went into the garden to pray. 



84 A CEOWK FOR OUK QUEEi^. 

With their faces towards the Temple they said together 
the evening's prayers ; — and ah ! how fervent were 
their blended voices when they besought the God of 
their fathers to remember the Promise and send the 
Messiah ! 

The prayer over, — then spoke the voice of the child 
in trembling way. Her hand was resting in her father's 
hand. She asked them to give their consent to her 
desire to dedicate herself by the vow of virginity forever 
to the service of God. They did not feel surprised. It 
was as if they had expected it. Silence fell between 
them just a little while. 'Ah! how deep and full of 
mystery is silence! Did the flowers listen for her 
father's answer? There was listening in heaven then 
such as had never been before. At last, Joachim 
spoke, — and his voice was firm; and he with Anna 
gave fall and glad consent. Like the Eternal Father's : 
" Let light be made : " was Joachim's words to Mary: 
" Child ! let it be so." But like the Eternal Father in 
Creation, — though swifc to give his glad consent, — he 
moved sloAvly to fulfill it. He must wait awhile. He 
must lay the matter before the High Priest, and the 
priests of the Temple. Their consent was necessary. 
And that night a wondrous spiritual happiness filled 
that home. Joachim fell a-dreaming about the olden 
words of prophecy. Anna's soul was full of joy. And 
the second great ecstacy after the Immaculate Concep- 
tion was filling Mary's soul with rapture. And the 
expectant world went on just the same as ever, — not 
knowing that the second step in the Eedemption was 
made, on earth — and by the feet of a little child. 

A few days afterwards Joachim turned his face 
towards the Holy-City. lie sought the High Priest and 



THE FLOWER OF THE YOW. 85 

placed kis child's desire before him. He assembled the 
priests. Zacharias, the father of the future John the 
Baptist was present, — and so also was the aged Simeon. 
The High Priest laid the request of Joachim before 
them. He told them it was the desire of Joachim's 
child, — and that she was not j-et three j'ears old. Some 
of the priests objected on account of the tenderness of 
her age. But up rose Simeon, — and he spoke almost 
like a Christian priest, as if he were inspired. His 
words moved all in the assembly, and all gave consent 
to receive the child Mary. 

Joachim returned to his home, and brought the glad 
tidings of a great joy to Mary. And now Anna begins 
to make preparations for her child's departure. Human 
sorrow and spiritual joy often live together in the same 
hear I. It is a mystery hard to be understood by world- 
lings. But God's saints know it. To part with her 
child was a grief beyond words; — but to give her to 
God and His service was a joy — the greatest of her life. 
Joachim was man ; and though ho could not feel, as 
the mother felt; still a quiet, deep pain lay on his heart 
shadowing the gladness that was in it for giving his 
Mary to God. September passed. They quietly kept 
the third birth-day of their child. October came and 
went with falling leaves and fading flowers. Closer and 
closer grew the bonds of tenderest human love between 
those three hearts as nearer and nearer drew the hour 
of separation. A part of our October and ISTovember 
formed the eighth month of the Hebrew year. In 
November, Joachim and Anna, accompanied, by many 
of their kinfolks who were in amaze at Joachim's folly, 
went up to Jerusalem, with Mary. 

And no one else? St. Germanus, the Patriarch of 



86 A CKOWK POR OUK QUEEK. 

Constantinople, describing that journey to Jerusalem, 
gays that hosts of unseen angels surrounded and accom- 
panied Mary. The world may laugh at this as a fable. 
Let it laugh. For us are the testimonies of the saints. 
They presented her to Zachary the father of John the 
Baptist. 

And beforo the Altar of Perfumes she silently made 
the Yow of virginity. Did the Royal Prophet, her 
ancestor sing to her across the ages: "^ "'Hearken 
Daughter, — and consider, and incline thine ear, and 
forget thy people and thy father's house, and the King 
shall love thee for thy beauty; for He is thy Lord and 
worship thou Him ? '^ 

Did the singer of the song of mysiical love, chaunt for 
hef Presentation-Feast when he sings: t"Riseupmy 
Love, my fair one, and come away, for lo ! the winter is 
past, and the rain is over and gone ; the flowers appear 
on the earth, the time of the singing of birds is come, 
and the voice of the turtle-dove is heard in our land." 

The vow was made. Then the temple sounded with 
gladsome song. Aged priests, young levites, all the 
assembled people, Joachim and Anna swelled the canticle 
with their voices. Mary's lips were moving in silent 
prayer. 

Then came the parting moment. She knelt before her 
parents for their blessing, — and then arose. She clasped 
her arms around their neck, — first Joachim's. He was 
weeping tears of sorrow and of joy. And then she 
clasped her arms around her mother,— -and lingered 
longer in her embrace; while from the eyes of Mary fell 
such tears as are seldom shed. They ara the most ten- 
derly human who have gone deepest into the divine. 

* rsalm, xlv. t Cant., ch. 2. 



THE FLOWER OF THE TC^V. 87 

Her parents went away; she remained the little prisoner 
of divine love in the Holy Temple. 

Her vow was the coronation of licr Immaculate Con- 
ception. 

Ah ! child of grace ! these words I write have set 
my heart a-dreaming and wakened memories of far off 
happy days ! And there are eyes, that will read my 
words unworthy, sure, of thee ; and when they read 
them, they too will look from the page before them 
back to olden, golden days, of which they formed a part 
with me. Sweet St. Mary's of the Barrens in Missouri's 
wilds ! thy children never can forget thee ! Ah ! well 
do they remember thy Presentation Feast when thou 
didst dedicate thyself to God. The great High Altar, 
in that seven Altared Church was radiant every year 
with lights and fragranced with flowers ; and the set- 
ting sun shone through the western window, the while 
thy Litany sounded before the Benediction. And then 
the names of many who yearned to be priests of Thy 
only Son were placed in the silver heart hanging from 
thy statue's neck in promise made to thee that they, 
like thee, would leave their fathers' house and dedicate 
themselves to the service of the Temple ! 

Ah me! how many names were shrined within that 
silver heart! Many are dead and gone; — but a few are 
living still; and who w^ould have thought, that long 
gone evening when my poor name was given into thy 
keeping, that I, so unworthy, would dare to dream of 
weaving a crown in thy honor ? 

Farther from the world — nearer to God. Now began 
the hidden, unrevealed life of Mary in the Temple. 
Around it with its courts and surroundings there was a 
circumference of h ilf-a mile. 



88 A CROWJSr FOR OUR QUEEX. 

The High Priest did not live there. He had a dwell- 
ing of his ©wn in Jerusalem. But many priests and 
levites did live within its precincts. The Scriptures 
and many holy Doctors give us to understand, that near 
and around the Temple, within the walls, dwelt devout 
women in cells apart, separated from the men whose 
duty it was to pray before the gate of the Tabernacle, 
to assist at the sacrifices of the morning and evening — 
to meaitate on the law of God night and day, and to 
make the vestments of the priests. According to the 
testimony of St. Ambrose, St. Cyril of Alexandria, 
Origen and others, only widows and maidens were 
aamitted and allowed to live within the Temple's pre- 
cincts. And all this was a shadow of the consecrated 
cloisters of the virgins of our Holy Church. In those 
days, the aged widow Anna, was a dweller in the Temple. 
The High Priest appointed those who were to take charge 
of and train the young maidens. They were taught 
to sing the canticles of the Lord. Their every day was 
regulated as to their duties. Like the nuns of our Holy 
Church they lived in separate cells. The rules were 
strict. To be dismissed from the Temple-service was 
considered an ignominy. It was a world within a 
world, — a world of peace and prayer and silence and 
song and gentle labor. 

Into that world went Mary. Her cell, according to 
tradition, was the nearest to the Holy of Holies. And 
with her went God and His angels. The Temple was 
her solitude. In the din of the noisy world God's voice 
is but faintly and vaguely heard. The world is a loud 
talker but a very poor thinker. It lives on words- 
very poor food, — and on noises, — very poor music. It 
does not understand that solitude is the home of great 



THE TLOWER 0? THE VOW. 89 

thoughts and aspirations. It will not see, that even 
mere human greatness makes a solitude for itself amid 
the little littlenesses around it in order to achieve future 
triumphs. But so it is. 

But sanctity which is the greatest greatness, even still 
more, has need of solitude, for growth. Eead the lives 
of the saints. Even while in perpetual action, — and 
while in conflict with the world around them, — their 
souls were solitaries. They lived within themselves a 
wondrous separated life, even v/hen in da;ly contact 
with the tumult all about them. Our Holy Church, in 
inner life, is as much a hermit to-day, as when with 
cross in hand she began the pilgrimage of time. 

Mary spent eleven years m the Temple. Meanwhile 
Joachim and Anna died and *^went to their fathers.'' 
She was alone, — an orphan in the world. The Temple 
was her only home, — and the Eternal her only Father; 
and the Priests of the Old Covenant became the guar- 
dians of the Mother of the Christ of the New Dispensa- 
tion. Beautiful, by her sinlessness in the supernatural 
order, her natural beauty went on towards its perfection 
day by day. She v\'as a living picture of God's beauty 
on earth. 

Her companions loved her, — and in their love there 
was a strange reverence for her person. When they 
sang together the canticles of the Lord, her pure voice 
sounded like an angel's. 

And she was the humblest one of them all. She was 
the mystery of the Temple. Many ancient writers and 
holy Fathers tell us that in her cell, — she held converse 
with the angels, — and that they were wont to bring her 
food. This, will you say, is only a beautiful imagina- 
tion ? And why only that ? Ordinary laws, — common 

8* 



90 A CKOWiir POU OUR QUEEi^. 

rules are for all of the children of our race, because we 
are ordinary. But hers was an uncommon life — and 
her destiny extraordinary. Canisius says that once she 
prolonged her prayers to the hour of midnight, when 
through the Temple's silence sounded the words : *^Thou 
shalt bring forth My Son." And she rose and in won- 
der, went to her cell. 

Christian imagination, glowing with the light of Faith 
and full of Faith's inspirations, can never conceive the 
superhuman facts in which her life in the Temple wms 
folded. 

In the material world around us what innumerable 
beauties are lying unrevealed. "We see Nature's surface 
but not her sanctuaries. And if what we do see fill our 
eyes with rapture, do we not know that all that visible 
beauty is a veil concealing the invisible beauty beneath it. 

Yes, — " in the w^orld of Nature, as in Super-Nature's 
realms, there is that w^hich no eye can see, — nor heart 
conceive, nor human mind understand." And of every 
human life given to God, the same is true. We read 
the lives of the saints, — but never know but half. And 
her life, the saint of saints, — the Mother of the life of 
the Christ of the saints, of it we know only the least 
little part. And why ? Because in her life, the greater 
part is above and beyond any imitation. It was a life 
unique, absolutely exceptional, — a life that could not be 
lived by any one but Mary. And this is why her 
Temple-life of eleven years has not been revealed to u?. 
It is inimitable, — and therefore gives no outward sign. 
It is strangely like the life of God before the Creation. 
God's was a life unknown and of infinite silence until 
He spoke :—'' Fiat Lux : " "Let there be light." And 
Mary's life before Redemption was a life unknown, — 



THE FLOWER OF THE VOW. 91 

and silent, — ^-till she broke its silence in answer to the 
ansrel: *' Fiat mihi : '^ "Be it done unto me accordins: 
to thy word." 

Ah ! Child of Grace ! while thou didst pray in all 
the days of those eleven years for the coming of the 
Messiah, thou didst also breathe thy all-fervent prayers 
for the sinners He was coming to save. Pray on, — 
sweet child ; and ah ! ^tis joy to know that we too here 
leathered in thy honor had a place in thy heart and a 
part in thy prayers ; — and who knows ? a deeper place 
and a greater part, because we wreathe to-day in thy 
queenly crown the beautiful Flower of Thy Vow. 



Aspiratio:n^ 

" Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as 
it is in heaven ! " 

Prayer. 

May the humanity of Thy only begotten Son be our 
succor, Lord; that Jesus Christ, our Lord, who, 
when born of a Virgin, did not diminish, but did conse- 
crate the integrity of His Mother, and may the same 
humanity adorable, deliver us from our sins and make 
our petitions acceptable. 



TENTH DAY. 



Sbhe ^\mn 0f \\\t ^4\^m%^\^. 



'*I have chosen to be an abject in the house of my God, rather than 
to dwell in the tabernacles of sinners."— /"sa/??!, Ixxxiii. 

There was Feast in the Temple courts. Sweet melo- 
dies of many harps were soi^ndrng, and voices of holy 
widows and innocent maidens were chanting canticles 
of joy. Many lights were glowing on the Altar of Per- 
fumes. And in the Temple and around it gladness was 
reigning everywhere. What feast? Only a Birthday 
Feast. The sun of the eighth of September shone in 
a sky all-cloudless, all day long. Came the High 
Priest, — the priests of inferior order and the Levites to 
grace the Feast with their presence, and to bless the day 
with their blessings. On that day Mary was fourteen 
years old. It was her Birthday Feast. Zachary and his 
spouse, holy Elizabeth were there. And Simeon came, 
and many of the kinfolks of the Child. For eleven 
years, Simeon had watched Mary, with now and then 
strange presentiments which he could hardly define. 

AVith a shyness, that puzzled many, she listened to 
their congratulations. There were holy faces there, 
and saintly souls and hearts with grace's high consecra- 
tions (for we must not think that the grand Old Cove- 
nant had no saints in its Vesper time) but amid them all, 
like a dream of God, moved Mary in her beauty. In 
that covenant of beautiful shadows how many wonder- 



THE FLOWER OP THE ESPOUSALS. 93 

ful women, figures of her, had come and gone, and left 
to Israel memories of virtues and of grace! Miriam, 
Euth, Judith, Esther, the mother of the Machabees and 
others are the glories of that olden Dispensation. But 
Mary was its crown. 

There was that in her face, that day, which was in 
none other there, — a something indescribable ; and in her 
eyes an infinite calm ; and in her voice the very tones of 
heaven's music; and in her every movement an uncon- 
scious grace, which, somehow, wove a spiritual spell on 
all who looked upon her. "How like an angel ! '^ they 
whispered lov/ to one another. 

But, — "all the glory of the King's daughter is from 
within.'' 

Her w^ondrous, natural beauty was but the trans- 
parent veil through which shone the interior, ineS*able 
beauty of her soul, that, for fourteen years, in constant 
and closest union with God, had far surpassed the trans- 
cendent sanctities of all the angels; and was rising, hour 
by hour, up towards the inaccessible heights of God's 
supremest grace. 

In after days, that Birthday Feast was long remem- 
bered, with new and added meanings, by those who had 
come to celebrate it. 

All day long the Feast was kept untd the hour of 
evening-sacrifice. Then to the Temple all repaired: 
and the evening-song was sung, — and the sacred censor 
was swung, while the white smoke of the Sacrifice 
ascended from the altar. Begun in joy and with glad- 
some song, that day closed in the hush of holy prayer. 
All had gone, but Mary still knelt and prayed. The 
Spirit of God was on her. Silence filled the Temple 
with its own strange holiness. The shadows, — and did 



94 A ciiow:i!s' roE oun quee:s". 

they tremble? folded her kneeling form. Strange emo- 
tions moved through her heart. '^Coming events cast 
their shadows before ; " — and, somehow, she felt, as if 
the gates of her Eden in the Temple were about to open 
for her to pass through, and to move on to some other 
act of God in the which she was to take part. In her 
cell, that night, she held long converse with her angel. 
He bade her follow the wishes of the priests, revealed 
to her a secret of Eternity and bade her not to fear. 

The priests held council about the child. What to 
do with her was the question that disturbed them. The 
last words of Joachim, and the dying pathetic plead- 
ings of Anna lay on their minds. 

When she leaves the Temple, in whose charge will 
they place her ? In spite of her vow they decided to 
give her in marriage. 

But to whom ? She was of the royal race of David ; 
where find for her in his line a fitting companion ? They 
had not long to think, — nor far to go. There was a man 
hamed Joseph who belonged to the royal line and had 
the same ancestor. "And he was a just man." He was 
getting on into age; and the priests had often wondered 
why he hal never chosen a bride from among the fair 
daughters of Sion. 

Though his ancestors had been prophets, princes and 
kings he was only a poor carpenter ; but his were the 
riches, better than those of earth, of great graces. He 
lived up in Nazareth, loved and respected by all who 
knew him. A tall, stately man, — very silent, with a 
singular tranquillity about him, he was wont to be seen 
in the Temple, on the Feasts of the Law, presenting 
his humble ofiferings to the altar, with the mild look of 
one of the ancient patriarchs ; and he was pointed out 



THE FLOWER OF THE ESPOUSALS, 95 

to the people as a model of the faithfuUest obsrrvance of 
all the sacred ordinances. 

He lived alone a life of daily toil. Why he had never 
married, no one knew. He had his own secret; and he 
kept his own counsel. He was known of all for his 
knowledge of the words of the Lord, for his deep faith 
in the promises ; for his love of His chosen race ; but 
above all for his humility. When he came to the 
Temple, — not into the first seats did he enter, — ^but down 
near the Temple's door he might be seen, sometimes 
standing, — sometimes kneeling and sometimes prostrate 
in prayer. 

Of his ancestry he did not speak. He belonged to 
none of the various conflicting, noisy sects into which, 
unfortunately, the Hebrews had become divided. Apart 
from them all he stood, bewailing their enmities towards 
one another, and sighing over the olden Faith that was 
a-breaking into fragments. This was the man, — ^' the 
just man'' selected by the priests to lead to the Altar of 
Marriage Mary of the Temple. 

The High Priest summoned her to his presence ; and 
aiter prayer— for those old Hebrews believed — (and 
some of them with greater faith than many Chris- 
tians) that prayer brought light from heaven in diffi- 
culties and doubts, — Mary was told of the decision of 
the Priests. 

She made no dissent. She simply obeyed, for she, 
too, had her secret, and kept her own counsel. 

And then they sent for Joseph to come to Jerusalem. 

Any command that went to him from the Temple was 
as if it came from God. Down to the Holy-City he 
came ; and they offered him the Virgin Mary for his 
bride. He heard their proposal, — nor did he seem sur- 



96 A CROWK POR OUE QUEEi^. 

prised ; and made the promise to take her into his keep- 
ing. Little did the priests of the Temple know what 
strange mysteries, from them hidden, they were touch- 
ing. It is always so. Men, — and at times those who 
seem the most unlikely, work out God's secret designs. 
And God never had a more secret and mysterious design 
over any creature, than He had over Mary. Joseph had a 
part in that design, — though what and how great a part 
he did not know. 

The Hebrew Prophets had foretold the Messiah's 
coming; and now the last of the Hebrew priests, 
unknown to themselves, are preparing His way. It was 
the law that the Hebrew maidens should be married 
from their father's house. Mary had no home but the 
House of God, — the Holy Temple. Hence, and is there 
not a mystery in it? her marriage with Joseph was 
celebrated in the Temple, the sacred house of the olden 
promise and later prophecies. 

The day came at last. Accompanied by his and 
Mary's kinfolks Joseph went down to the Temple. The 
marriage canticles, with the accompaniment of many 
harps rang gladly through the holy place. Before one 
of the priests (many think Zachary the father of John 
the Baptist) stood Joseph and Mary. The priest lifted 
up his hands towards the heavens, and prayed over 
them ; and then with the beautiful Hebrew ritual he 
united Joseph and Mary in the holiest marriage earth 
ever knew, — a marriage which was to veil with secrecy 
the purest mystery and the deepest of all time, — the 
conception and birth of Jesus Christ. 

How near we sometimes are to God's mysterious works 
without knowing it ! We almost touch Him when He 
is at His great works; — and we are unconscious of 



THE FLOWER OP THE ESPOUSALS, 97 

His presence. He passes right before our eyes and we 
see Him not. Who, in that Temple, that day dreamed 
in looking on the face of Mary, of the Woman of 
Genesis. Yet there stood the Woman of Genesis, 
forty centuries old by promise, in the form of a maiaen 
a little more than fourteen years of age. There stood 
the " Virgin '^ of Isaias' prophecy; there stood the 
living realization of all the predictions, — a pure, young 
girl, in the mystery of a human marriage which was to 
conceal a more mysterious marriage in her womb, — the 
espousals of human nature to divine nature in Jesus 
Christ, her Son. 

Back in the eternal predestinations lay the strange 
vocation of Joseph. He was to be the Eternal Father's 
visible shadow on earth, — and like a shadow, he was to 
shroud, for a time, the earthly conception and birth of 
the Son of God ; as the eternal generation of the same 
is hidden forever in the glory of the bosom of the 
Father. Holy Joseph ! sacred shadow of God ! " the 
virtue of the Most High will overshadow '^ Mary in the 
time of her Divine Conception; and thou shalt be the 
shadow to shield her honor and that of her Divine 
Offspring in the face of the world. 

Sorrow is the sister of joy, — and they walk the world 
closer together than many think. For : 

'' Tears are the Vespers of Gladness, — 
Life's Matin-Laudate scarce ends 
Ere a psalm all a-thrilling with sadness 
From the lips of the singer ascends." 

The Temple was to lose its angel-child. How lone- 
some it would look without her! Ah! through all 
those eleven years, how she had grown to be almost a 
necessary part of the holy service ! In a sense unknown 



98 A CKOWi^ FOR OUR QUEEJST. 

to them, she was a necessary part. Somehow the Temple 
would not be the same. It would be as sad as a sky 
that loses its brightest star. Far brighter than the 
lights on the altars was the light in the temple of 
Mary's soul. Never mind ! Temple ! your child will 
come back, and bring before your altar the Light of the 
World! Tears in the eyes of the saintly widows,— 
tears in the eyes of the priests, — tears in the eyes of the 
young maidens, — when with her hand in Joseph's she 
passed through the gate of the Temple, and wept as 
many another bride has wept in leaving her father's 
house. Because she was perfect she was most human. 
Our nature lost the perfection of its humanity when it 
lost divine grace. Hence it is hard, rough, ungentle, 
untender. Its tears fall when they ought not to fall; 
and it does not weep when it ought to weep. As Christ 
was most human because He was divine; so His Mother 
was most human because she was perfect and sinless. 
So Mary mingled her tears with those of her com- 
panions in the Temple when the hour of her departure 
came. 

The Temple's loss was ITazareth's gain. It was a 
journey of three days to Joseph's humble home. They 
left Jerusalem and pursued their way by the city of 
Naim, — along the valleys at the foot of Mount Hermoin, 
and by Mount Thabor. As was the custom, Joseph 
and Mary were met on their entrance into Nazareth, by 
young maidens who sang canticles of joy and praise to 
God. If the virtues of Joseph had won the reverence 
of Nazareth, — the singular beauty of Mary, at once, 
charmed the hearts of all. 

And now began her life as St. Joseph's spouse. There 
is no mere make-believe in any of God's works. He 



THE FLOWER OP THE ESPOUSALS. 99 

may hide much back of what He does, — but what He 
does is always real. 

So the marriage of Joseph and Mary was a real, true 
and valid marriage. The alliance was sincere on the 
part of both. They each had made a vow of perpetual 
virginity to God, — and their very marriage w^as a mutual 
contract for the preservation of their virginities* Mary 
knew, by inspiration, that it "wa^ not the will of God, 
and that it would never be the will of Joseph to cause 
detriment to her virginity. In marriage there are three 
goods, as theologians say, — Sacrament (a mystery), 
Fidelity and Offspring. But the last is not essential 
either to the reality or validity of marriage. How many 
holy marriages there are — sacramentally and in beauti- 
ful fidelities, which are not blessed with children ? Th3 
absence of the child, by no means, disproves the reality 
of the marriage, — it simply shows the incompleteness of 
the alliance. 

But in the marriage of Joseph and Mary there was to 
be, by miracle, not through Joseph, but through the 
Holy Spirit the most glorious offspring, — Jesus Christ. 
In the old law when the oldest son of a family died 
without issue, the second brother espoused the widow 
and to the first born child, the name of his deceased 
brother was given ; and this for the purpose of pre- 
serving the direct line of descent of the ancestors of the 
Messiah. But does it not seem that it was also by 
a great mystery ? 

Mark, — this law is accomplished to the very letter. 

For St. Joseph espouses Mary, — and we can well say 
he dies without a child of his own, for the vow of 
virginity which he had taken was a beautiful, mysterious 
death, by which of his own will, he laid down the life 



100 A CROWK POR OUR QUEEK. 

of his body, — and became carnally dead. Then came 
the Holy Spirit treating Joseph as an elder brother 
dead, became the spouse of Mary, who else would be 
humanly childless, — and in her conceived Jesus Christ 
the Son of God whom Mary brought forth for our 
redemption. 

To whom as His Father will Jesus Christ be attri- 
buted? 

Not to the Holy Ghost, for He was not His Father, 
as He did not produce Christ out of His Divine sub- 
stance. The glorious title will be and must be given to 
the Eternal Father alone together with Mary the true 
Mother. But in the world Jesus Christ will be called 
the Son of Joseph because He will be born of her who 
was Joseph's spouse. "Is He not the son of the car- 
penter : " — they said. Did not Mary His Mother, with 
deep mystery in her word, say to Christ: " Thy Father 
and I have sought Thee sorrowing?" Oh! glorious 
mystery, Joseph bears on earth to Christ the incom- 
municable name — Father ! 

Origen says that the Holy Spirit rendering Mary 
fruitful of Christ honored Joseph with the name of 
Father. Shadow-name! — sweet and beautiful cast on 
earth by the light of the substantial Name of the 
Eternal Father, concealing from men and demons the 
glorious mystery of the Incarnation, how Faith rests, 
and dreams, and prays and adores in thy presence, — as 
they of the Old Covenant did before the veil that hid 
the mysteries of the Holy of Holies. 

Ah! the mysterious relations between Christ's reputed 
Father on earth and His real Father in Heaven! Who 
can describe or understand them? But between St. 
Joseph and the Holy Ghost there are also intimate rela- 



THE FLOWER OF TfiE ESPOUSALS. lOl 

tions. They were both spouses of Mary, — Joseph the 
visible and the Holy Spirit the invisible spouse. She 
was to bring forth a son who would be visible and 
iQvisible at the same time and always; — as man visible, — 
as God invisible; — and because her Son was to be 
visible and corporal, she had a visible and corporal 
spouse, — "the just man'^ — Joseph; and because her 
Son was to be invisible and purely spiritual in His 
Divine substance, she had an invisible and purely 
spiritual spouse, — the Holy Ghost. 

And thus St. Joseph, like a sacred shadow, hides the 
Paternity of the Eternal Father, — conceals the Divine 
action of the Holy Ghost, invests Jesus Christ with a 
seeming human parentage; — and what else. 

He stands before the world as Mary's necessary pro- 
tector. Had she in the Temple been found with child ; — 
or had she, out of* the Temple, remaining in the eyes of 
the world a virgin, given birth to Jesus Christ, — think 
you they would take her at her word and believe her 
testimony ? Think you when brought before the tri- 
bunal, where mercy hushed, and sternest justice gave 
decree, they would listen to her piteous cry : " Oh, no ! 
my child is not of man, — it is born of the Holy Ghost! 
condemn me not to death ? '^ No — no, — there was little 
of mercy in that law to which the Promise of Mercy 
gave all its meanings. They would have dragged her 
out of the gates of the Holy City, — to the great wide 
plain, — they would have taken up the stones of male- 
diction to hurl them at the outcast ; they would have 
cursed her, in the awful stoning, with the terrible 
curses of the Law,— until she fell dead before them ; 
they would have branded her child Jesus with the dark 
ban of illegitimacy ; and they would have regarded the 

*9 



102 A CROWK FOE OUR QUEEJS". 

greatest act of God's love as the darkest crime against 
the Law, 

It was Joseph's vocation to be the shield of her honor, 
and the defender of her purity, — and to stand between 
her and the stones of curse. It was a mighty vocation, — 
but a mournful one. And besides^ the Divine Concep- 
tion of Christ and His miraculous birth needed a 
human witness, apart from the Mother; a witness of 
character unimpeachable, — of testimony which, perforce, 
must be taken and believed ; and whose word stood 
higher, among priests and people, than the word of 
Joseph " the Just man ? " 

But he was so mild and gentle and silent. The 
gentlest are the bravest. What hidden forces are folded in 
the quiet, still cloud ? On Calvary the gentle John was 
braver than all his co- Apostles. He stood by the cross, 
whence they fled. No wonder the dying Christ left 
His Mother in charge of such gentle bravery ! Look on 
the quiet- faced water. "What powers it conceals? Fire 
makes it brave and strong, and clothes it with an almost 
natural omnipotence; and then the great steamers cleave 
the waves, and brave the storms and sail across the 
seas ; and then the long trains are borne over continents, 
by the gentle power of little drops of water, made strong 
by the furnace-fires in the locomotive. The gentlest 
Faith is always the most fearless. So Joseph stood 
between the Old Dispensation and the New Covenant to 
guard the honor of the "Woman of the Promise, and to 
defend the Divine legitimacy of her Child, by standing 
before men in the position of His earthly father. 

But more still! Listen. And let us pray! Oh 
adorable Bosom of the Father Eternal ! Thou art the 
first Principle of the Blessing of all Thy creatures ! "We 



THE FLOWER OE THE ESPOUSALS. 103 

adore Thee with all the Faith of our hearts, for having 
given unto us Thy own, only Son with all His Divinity! 

Oh Virginal Bosom of Mary! Purest Breasts of 
Virgin-Mother ! we glorify thee, as the second principle 
of our Eedemption, for having given unto us, the same 
Eternal Son, in His holy Humanity ! And blessed 
hands of Joseph, we honor you as the third source of 
our Salvation, for did not thy hands labor and toil, day 
by day, and year on year to nourish and strengthen and 
bring to perfection the Humanity of our Saviour ! 

He is the Word of the Eternal Father, begotten with- 
out effort; — but thy toils and labors for thirty years, 
procuring His earthly food, did give strength to Him 
and preserve His human life 

Only a year did He draw nourishment from Mary's 
breast; — and all the rest of His years His life while 
thou didst live, v/ent on nourished by the fruit of thy 
daily toil ! 

And in Nazareth there was an earthly Trinity, — as in 
Heaven a Trinity Divine. In Heaven three invisible 
persons, — and one God. In Nazareth three visible per- 
sons, — and one God, — Jesus Christ. 

Through Mary's Espousals with Joseph, he was 
brought into closer relations with the Trinity and with 
the history of Eedemption than any other saint. He 
stood nearest to the source of all grace. He was the 
shadow that hid the source. His was the heart, which, 
next to Mary the Virgin Mother, drew from the source 
the deepest stream of grace. 

No wonder, that in our day, St. Joseph has been pro- 
claimed by the Church, — her universal Patron. For 
Mary the Mother of Christ her Son is, -by right, the 
mother of the Church, the mystical Bride of her Son* 



104 A CROWK POR OUR QXXEEH. 

And as Joseph was the foster-father of Jesus Christ, 
because he was the Spouse of the Mother of Jesus, is, 
by right, ^he Eoster-father of the universal Church. 
And thus over the Church St. Joseph is united with the 
Holy Spirit as they were united in regard to the Blessed 
Virgin. 

Holy Joseph ! there are sorrows still before you, but 
God will give you light and strength ! And Virgin 
Mother ! thou Avilt bless thy children to-day who weave 
into thy Crown the mysterious Flower of thy Esi)ousals ! 



Aspiration. 

The just shall flourish like a palm tree, he shall 
grow up like the cedar of Libanus, planted in the honor 
of the Lord, — in the courts of the house of our God. 
It is good to give praise to the Lord, — and to sing to 
Thy name Most High ! 

Prayer. 

Vouchsafe, Oh Lord! that we may be helped by the 
merits of Thy most Holy Mother s Spouse : that what 
of ourselves we cannot obtain, may be given unto us 
through his intercession ! 



ELEVENTH DA Y. 



2bhi^ gUxva 0f ilxt %nmnmim. 



*'Har., full of grace;— the Lord is with thee.*' 

Nazareth was a little city in lower Galilee, built on 
the slope of a rocky hill, faces the southeast and sur- 
rounded by mountains. There began the new life of 
Mary in marriage with Joseph, — a marriage uncarnal, 
consecrated by two virginities, — a marriage of the sinless 
soul to the holiest soul in all Judea, — a marriage of 
purest heart to a heart more pure than any other known 
of God or man. 

Nazareth had a poor reputation in and around Jeru- 
salem. Among the people there was a by- word: " Can 
any good come out of Nazareth ? ^' In that city of the 
taunting by-word, Mary and Joseph were dwelling. 
And by and by out of that city was to come the Infinite 
Goodness Himself. 

The Ark of the Covenant was constructed in the 
desert-solitudes. It was made of the incorruptible 
wood of the beautiful Acacia tree, and it was covered 
on all sides with plates of purest gold. Over the Ark 
stood two Cherubim, with their faces turned towards 
each other and their wings expanded and joined so 
as to cover the propitiatory, which was the place of the 
special presence of Jehova among His people. There 
was not only the mercy-seat, — but also the place of 
giving responses. 

(105) 



106 A CROWiq" FOE OUR QUEEK. 

Joseph and Mary in their life at Nazareth were like 
the Cherubim, with their pure faces turned towards 
each other, — the wings of their virginities expanded, — 
and joined together to coyer the great mystery of the 
Ark of the New Alliance. The Ark of the Covenant 
of shadows was no longer in existence. Solomon's grand 
Temple lasted only thirty-three years, when it was plun- 
dered by Sesoc, King of Egypt, who pillaged Jerusalem, 
and carried away all the treasures of the Temple. The 
Temple was finally burnt by Nabuchodonosor. 

So the old Ark has passed away. Waiting in Naza- 
reth like its Cherubim were Joseph and Mary for the 
coming of the Living Ark of this world's salvation. 

From morning to night Joseph toiled in his shop 
adjoining his humble home. Patient, — and very silent 
and shy was he in his work-a-day life. When evening 
came and closed his labors, how often did he pass from 
his shop into the house, w^eary of heart and tired of 
hand, for the world drove hard bargains with the poor 
carpenter. For himself he cared not. Little or nothing 
would suit him; — but rough, poor food did not seem to 
him fitting nourishment for the young and tender Mary. 

She, too, knew no hours of idleness. In the Temple 
she had been taught all the necessary and ornamental 
arts of labor peculiar to females. Young maidens and 
mothers would come to her to assist them in making 
their garments. Those gentle lips could not say — '* No/' 

She would graciously lend them her labor; and 
many a mother's face brightened when the garment 
made by Mary's hands was brought home. She was the 
Angel of the little city, but no one ever dreamed that 
poor, little, wicked Nazareth w^as contained, among its 
three thousand inhabitants, the very Queen of the 
Angels. 



FLOWER OF THE AKKUl^CIATIOJ^-. 107 

What prayers of pure hearts blended and holy voices 
mingled went up from Joseph's home to God ! The 
contact of saints makes each more saintly. The blend- 
ing of two rays of light, gives each to the other, a 
greater brightness. 

How long, oh ! Lord ! how long ! the nations, by a 
strange universal instinct, are growing more expectant. 
Among all the nations, — a tradition is twined through 
their histories and poetries and religions, that a virgin 
would bring forth a great Saviour. In Rome, the 
Sibyls had written in their mystery-books that a God 
would be born of a spotless virgin. 

Far in India it was taught that a pure ray of light 
would come from heaven, shine on a virgin — and in her 
produce a God. 

In the wild woods of Gaul the Druid priests offered 
homage to the future virgin that would bring forth. 
And strange to say, about a hundred years before the 
birth of Christ, the Pontiff of the Carnati, a Celtic tribe 
inhabiting the country between the river Loire and the 
Seine, in the presence of the druids, the kings and 
princes of the place, solemnly erected in a grotto of 
the sacred forest a statue of a Virgin holding in her lap 
a divine infant, who was to reign in peace over all the 
world. Thus the memory of the Woman of the Promise 
followed the race in all its wanderings from the Gates of 
Eden. 

Gone were the chill winds of February and came the 
warmer breath of March. The heart of the Spring was 
beginning to beat under the grasses, and the trees and 
the flowers and the vines. 

Spring is a virgin but soon becomes a mother. 
Already her new-born children were coming forth in 



108 A crow:n' for our queeh. 

their first, fresh beauty all around Nazareth. And the 
skies became brighter and the birds came back and sang 
with joy while they made their nests. It had been a 
hard winter with Joseph, — and he welcomed, with glad- 
ness in his heart, the birth of the fair sweet Spring, for 
it gave him more vigor and brought him more work. 

The 25th day of March dawned. Sts. Chrysostom and 
Augustin tell us that it was a Friday; — in order that, as 
Adam was created on Friday, the sixth day, so on the 
same day of the week Mary might conceive the second 
Adam. St. Bernard says that it was early in the morn- 
ing so that the Sun of Super-nature might begin to 
shine in the bosom of Mary together with the material 
sun in nature's sky. Joseph was working in his shop. 
In her chamber Mary was kneeling in prayer. 

Pray on! thou sinlccS virgin. The sound of the 
hammer in Joseph's hand, — for he has much to do to- 
day, reaches thy ears but does not distract thy heart. It 
is beating to-day with a strange, new, higher, excessive, 
ecstatic love. How thy lips pant with the wondrous 
strength of thy prayer! Pray on, thou purest one; — 
for nor you, nor earth, nor heaven will ever forget this 
all-blessed day. 

Up in the eternal Heavens there was rapture in 
the Angel-world. A new look of beauty never before 
seen had come into the Father's face, — and the Son wore 
ifc too and the Holy Spirit: only in the Father it was a 
look of Power and peace; and in the Son, — the while 
the angels marvelled, — it was the glorious look of a 
divine humility, — and in the Holy Ghost a look of 
preparation. 

The angels had not forgotten how the Unchangeable 
seemed always to put on a look of change before all the 



FLOWER OP THE AKiq-Ui^CIATIOX. 109 

great works He wrought outside of Himself. It was a 
mystery to them, — that seeming change fulness in the 
great Unchangeable. 

But such a look as shone on them this day they had 
never seen before. And thev fell down before the throne 
in the holy hush of worship; — for they knew that God 
was going to speak. 

Gabriel, the Archangel of the Throne, whose name 
signifies the "Strength of God," — and also as testifies 
one of the Bishops of the Council of Ephesus,— it 
means God and man, — the guardian Angel of Mary, is 
summoned before the Throne, and receives from God a 
commission which he must bring to Nazareth and 
deliver to Mary. Gabriel went. "Was there silence 
then a half-an-hour in Heaven ?" 

Suddenly a bright light shines around Mary and fills 
her humble apartment with glory. She lifts her eyes; 
and lo! Gabriel, her angel, appears before her in human 
form, radiant with the very light which he brought from 
the Throne. 

One instance of glory's silence, — the while they 
heard the sound of the Carpenter's hammer in the 
shop,— and he saluted her: 

"Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with* thee; blessed 
art thou among women." Angels had communed with 
her before, — but never in words like those. "And she 
was troubled and wondered in her mind what manner 
of salutation this might be." What does it mean? 
rushed the troublous question over her soul. 

"And the angel said to her: Fear not Mary; for 
thou hast found grace with God. And behold thou 
shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a Son and 
thou shalt call His name Jesus. He shall be great and 

10 



110 A CEOWK FOR OUR QUEEi^. 

shall be called the Son of the Most High ; and the 
Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of David his 
father ; and He shall reign over the house of Jacob for- 
ever, and of His Kingdom there shall be no end." Did 
a great fear creep into her heart, the while the angel 
spake these words? Her virgin-vow rose pure and 
white before her. And she said: ^*How can this be 
because I know not man?'V Then said the angel: 
" The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee ; and the power 
of the Most High shall overshadow thee; therefore, also, 
the holy thing that shall be born of thee shall be called 
the Son of God.'' The very calm of God came down 
on her soul. Doubts and darknesses faded away. 
Ineffable light filled her whole being. Her heart was 
wrapped into highest ecstacy. The waves of God's 
wondrous love rolled under her feet and bore her out, — 
out — far and farther across the bright waters of Mercy's 
infinite sea, — and she walked its glorious waters, in 
the intense rapture of humility. She only said : ^' Be- 
hold the Handmaid of the Lord ; be it done unto me 
according to thy word." And the angel departed from 
her. She listened a moment, — only the hammer of 
Joseph was heard as he still worked on, — unconscious 
of the great mystery announced to Mary and hidden so 
near him. 

Is it not always so? God passes near us, — almost 
touches us, working the works of grace, — but in His 
coming and going He is so still that we know not of 
His presence till He has passed us by and gone. 

Gabriel the ambassador of Mercy returned to the 
angel-land; — and never had heaven kept Feast of 
greater joy. 

How wonderful are the divine ways. In Eden the 



FLOAVER OE THE AKKUKCIATIOK. Ill 

fallen angel of darkness, in serpent form, accosted Eve ; 
and announced to her that if she and her companion 
would eat of the fruit of the forbidden tree, they would 
become as Gods. And she fell through pride. 

In Nazareth an angel of light appears and announces 
to Mary that she has been chosen to become the mother 
of God. She hesitates on account of her vow of vir- 
ginity. Her doubts removed by the angel's words, — she 
consents and rises to the highest dignity in all creation 
on the wdngs of the humblest words: *^ Behold the 
handmaid of the Lord." And, at once, the Holy Ghost 
came upon her; and the power of the Most High over- 
shadowed her, — and in the pure substance of her sin- 
less body, she conceived the sacred humanity of Jesus 
Christ. 

" Hail full of Grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed 
art thou among women." The words are the saluta- 
tion of the Eternal Father. And more, they imply a 
prayer sent by Him to Mary, through the angel, asking 
her consent to become the Mother of His Son on earth. 
Absolutely Mary could have refused. There was no 
coercion of her will. She was never more free than in 
that annunciation hour, — and no will ever rose to such 
glory of its freedom than hers when meeting the great, 
Free will of God, she seemed almost to share in its 
infinite Freedom when she gave consent to the mystery 
of Kedemption in her person. The law of Promise 
began with the Woman of Genesis, whose seed was to 
be in everlasting enmity with the seed of the serpent. 

The New Covenant begins historically with that 
Woman's name, — Mary of whom was to be born the 
Christ; and when she is fifteen years of age. Heaven 
salutes her: "Hail full of Grace;" — and she conceives 



113 A CROWiq" rOE OUK QUEEK. 

the Christ. Hail fall of grace! a salutation, — and a 
prayer given and made by the eternal Father. The 
eternal Son in human form, in after days will also give 
to the world a salutation — and a prayer, — " Our Father! 
who art in Heaven." 

" Hail full of grace " preceded ; and had to precede 
the "Our Father who art in Heaven/' And why? 
Beyond the days of Mary and of Christ, — the race had 
no right to call God, — Father. It was obliged to wait 
until God's Son became the human brother of everyone 
of the children of Adam. How did he become our 
brother ? Because Mary was His human mother. 
The Fatherhood of our God, rests in cur brotherhood 
with His Son, Jesus Christ, — and that brotherhood rests 
on the motherhood of Mary. You cannot separate one 
from the other. In eternity as in time they are forever 
and inseparably interlinked. 

Who then will dare to blame the children of the 
eternal Father and the brothers of the eternal Son in- 
carnate, when they salute on earth and from earth Mary 
who was first so saluted by Heaven. "Hail full of 
grace " was Heaven's first prayer and salutation to Mary. 
And who will challenge either our words or our motives, 
when, from hearts and lips we echo the salutation back 
to Heaven ? Those first words, — the PKi^rcrpiUM of all 
the words of the New Covenant, — because they are the 
first words, will give the tone of their truth and the 
meaning of their divine melody to every single word that 
will ever fall from the lips of Christ. 

Came thd evening of the day. The tired Joseph 
entered the house. Did he mark the new look that had 
come into the face of Mary ? 

They sat side by side at their humble table and par- 



FLOWER OF THE ANNUNCIATION. 113 

took of their scanty evening meal. Joseph was too 
weary to hold much converse. Mary was mysteriously 
shy. She knew all, — and Joseph knew nothing. Down 
in her throbbing heart slept the great Mystery. What 
must she do ? Speak and tell all ? No, — no, — she is 
going to be the Mother of the Savionr; — and she must 
be like His Eternal Father. Her lips must be silent, 
while her heart hides the divine secret. They knelt and 
prayed together fervently and long. Then Joseph rose 
up and went to his own apartment and soon was sleep- 
ing a peaceful sleep. Mary lingered yet awhile; then 
retired to her small, humble room, with emotions that 
cannot be even conceived. For from the hour of the 
angel's visit, — and her consent, her inner life was 
ecstacy ! And yet, withal, a shadow hung over her 
soul ; — she began to feel a great fear of Joseph. 

What w^ould he do when the mystery would come to 
his knowledge? Would he send her away, by disbe- 
lieving her word ? Ah ! the terror that swept across her 
ecstacy! But she trusted in the Father of Him she had 
conceived; — and closed her eyes in holy rest. 

Mary holy Virgin ! It was thy consent that brought 
us the Christ of our Salvation. We praise and glorify 
thee forever, as the hand maid, whose pure hand opened 
the gates between time and eternity, — between the finite 
and Infinite, to let the Eedeemer enter the world! 

Ah! holy Joseph! there are days of sorrow before 
thee. 'Tis always so. Wherever God passes a shadow 
falls. The anguish of doubt will come to thee. But 
the doubt will pass away; — and then will come long 
days and nights of sorrow and of suffering; but God 
will give thee strength, and Mary consolation. 



10* 



114 a cbowk for our queek. 

Aspiration", 

"Grace is poured abroad in thy lips. Therefore 
hath God blessed thee forever. Because of truth and 
meekness and justice; and thy right hand shall con- 
duct thee wonderfully." — Psalm, xliy. 

Prayer. 

God, who wast pleased that thy Word, at the 
message of an angel, should take flesh in the womb 
of the blessed Virgin Mary: grant to us thy suppK- 
ants, that we who believe her to be truly the Mother 
of God may be assisted by her intercessions with thee. 




TWELFTH DAY. 



%\Mt i,\mtt 0f \\it ^m%tXfX. 



"Be it done unto me according to thy will."— iw^e, i. 

There be those, (nor are tliey small in numbers, 
though they are exceeding small in knowledge) who 
ignorantly think, and as ignorantly teach, that the will 
of Mary had nothing to do with the great mystery of 
their salvation. To their mind (how shallow such 
mind must be ?) the Virgin all-pure was only a tool in 
the hands of God^ — a passive instrument to be employed 
for a great divine purpose, — and then to be flung aside, 
out of the way of Christ's works. They must have a 
singular idea of the honor of God's character, — and a 
low idea of the dignity of God's creatures, and more 
particularly of the glory of her who is the highest of 
pure creatures. Let them have their little notions. 
We have higher thoughts of God and therefore higher 
thoughts of all His creatures, for in our holy Church, 
we have '^tho mind of Christ," — and v^e judge all things 
by the standards of truth divine. 

God can say Yes ; and God can say N"o, — and either 
word from His lips is infinite and immutable. We are 
made in His imao^e and to His likeness. And we like 
Him can say Yes ; and like Him can say No. Free 
will is the crown of His creatures. 

And we can say yes or no even to God Himself, — but 
our yes or no is fiaite and changeable. In all God's 

(115) 



116 A CROWK FOR OUR (^UEEi?'. 

worlds of created intelligences, — there is not, — nor can 
there be coercion. 

Coercion is a chain; it means slavery and slaves. It 
is beneath God to accept enforced service. Worship 
forced from slaves would be ignominy to God. He 
never can belie or undo His creative act. In that act 
He gives every intelligence free will. Free will is a 
crown worn by the princes of God. 

True, — many of them may desecrate the crown by 
laying it down at the feet of evil. But God is not going 
to interfere by coercion. He will never press the 
weight of His omnipotent will on the crowns we wear 
and thus force us to wear them whether we will or no. 
His way is to let us have our own way as well as our 
own will ; and His way is best. 

He reveals His will to us in laws; He reveals His 
love to us in graces, — He reveals His mind to us in 
truth, — and He reveals Himself to us in Jesus Christ 
the Son of Mary. His laws we may keep or break; His 
love we may preserve or lose; His truths we may believe 
or deny; and Himself we may accept or reject. For 
"our worship must be reasonable," — and to be so, — it 
must be free; for ours is ^'the freedom of the children 
of God." Such is our high inheritance. Our will must 
be guided, — not destroyed; strengthened, not broken; 
persuaded, not coerced. There are so-called churches 
that teach and preach a cruel, heartless God ; that 
coolly tell God's creatures that many of them have been 
made by Him to give Him the exquisite happiness of 
sending them to hell. They tell us that such are 
doomed from all eternity. Shame on such teachings ! 

Does the beautiful God exult in the foreordained hor- 
rors of His creatures ? Then strike out the word Hope 



THE FLOWER OF THE eO]!^SEKT. 117 

from religion ; — then effdce the word Penance from the 
pages of Scriptures and the hearts of men. Then 
change the very name of G-od ; — inQnite name signifying 
Good ; and write on the gates of Heaven in black, merci- 
less letters: — Cruel, Heartless, Wicked. Let such 
be the name of such a God. But away with such blasphe- 
mies. We will keep our own God, — and His Christ and 
His Mother, and His lovingness and His mercy and His 
tenderness and His infinite pity; — the God of the Infi- 
nite, beautiful Heart. 

Yes,— and the God-Christ with His human heart 
that can and does compassionate all our miseries. Who 
gave the Son of God the gift of a human heart ? Mary. 
Was she forced to give it ? Will God accept a forced 
gift? Never, — for it would be no gift at all. Her free 
and willing consent was the cause of the creation of 
that heart in her womb, by the Holy Ghost. Without 
her consent that heart would never have beat or bled 
here below. 

Was the Son of God forced by the Father to become 
the Son of Man? Who will sustain such blasphemy? 
Was Mary forced by the Father to become the Mother 
of His Son on earth, the Christ ? He was free and will- 
ing to become her Son, — and she was willing and free to 
become His Mother. God never made an act more 
grandly free than the decree of the Incarnation ; — and 
never crea'ure made an act of higher freedom than Mary 
when in the words which are tremulous with humility 
she answered the an-yel : " Behold the handmaid of the 
Lord," But listen to the firm and powerful Avords of 
her consent: ^^ Be it done unto me according to thy 
word." Is she borrowing the strength of the olden 
word of the Eternal ? '' Fiat "— " Let it be done." 



118 A CROWK FOR OUR QUEEiq-, 

The cons*2nt sounds like a command. The Fiat of 
God gave being only to creatures. The Fiat of Mary 
gives human being and life to God Himself who is infi- 
nitely above all creatures. The Fiat of God produced 
His work out of nothing, the lowest origin that can be. 
The Fiat of Mary brought her work out of the very 
bosom of God, — the highest source imaginable. The 
Fiat of God added nothing to His infinite grandeurs 
and perfections. The Fiat of Mary as soon as pro- 
nounced lifted her up to the supreme dignity of the 
Mother of the Infinite and clothed her round with all 
the glorious prerogatives of that incomparable position. 
The Fiat of God gave Him empire only over creatures 
who are as nothing in His presence. The Fiat of Mary 
gave Him dominion over His other Self — His Son in 
human form. 

The Fiat of Mary made His Son God's, inferior 
in His humanity ; and caused to be given to God, in 
creation, what else He never would have received, an 
infinite woi-ship. 

Thus our race, through the Son of Mary, gives infi- 
nite glory to God. The consent of Mary to be the 
Mother of Jesus, freely asked and freely given, crov/ns 
the Finite with an infinite crown. 

God's omnipotent power can reach forth no farther. 
The illimitable touches its limit in Mary. No creature 
can rise higher. The limited has ascended into the 
Illimitable. 

Mary's pure bosom touches the eternal bosom of the 
Father. It participates in that Infinite fruitfulness out 
of which the Eternal Son, the Father's other Self in 
substance, though in person different, — and produces 
not by human and natural fecundity, but by power 



THE FLOWER OF THE C0XSE2TT. 119 

divine, Jesus Christ. Out of the Father's bosom the 
Son comes the Creator-God. 

In Mary's womb the Son is conceived, — the Saviour- 
God. The Father has but one Son; — and the same 
becomes Mary's ; — and through birth from her He will 
have innumerable brothers by the adoption of grace, — 
and the roll of the names of them, who become His 
brothers, and adopted sons of His Father, will reach 
down to the end of time. 

But w^ho can describe all the other mysteries that rose 
to reign forever on earth and in heaven, out of the con- 
sent of Mary ? 

Nor man, — nor angel, — nor Mary herself. 

What a miracle of loving Power and powerful Love! 

The Infinite is compassed by and contained in the 
finite ! 

The Eternal is going to lead a new life and reckon its 
length by days of time. The frail body of a virgin 
maiden bears up the infinite weight of God. ^'God 
chooses the weak to confound the strong.'' 

And above all in Mary we have the truest, clearest, 
fullest, tenderest revelation of the beautifulness of God. 

But how can it be ? She herself asked the angel the 
puzzling question. 

He only said : " With God nothing shall be impossi. 
ble;" — answer clear and plain and convincing enough 
for Faith. 

Last night I walked down on the beach to listen to the 
songs of the sea. Each wave sang a song of its own. I 
lifted my gaze to the skies, and thousands of stars shown 
into my upturned eyes. The immense bright, far-off 
worlds all — all contracted themselves and came down 
along the innumerable paths of their silvery rays, — and 



130 A CROWK FOR OUH QUEEi^. 

each had its place in my eyes, without losing their 
brightness cr grandeur at all. And I thought again 
how nature is all the time showing us the wa}^s of the 
beautiful Supernature. If my eyes can reach and com- 
pass and contain in their little circle the bright immensi- 
ties of the Heavens; — why cannot the grandeurs of the 
Divinity be contained in the sacred Humanity hidden 
yet away in the bosom of the Immaculate Mary ? The 
winds had lulled and t looked away over the waves again 
that were falling asleep ; and I wondered how the frail 
white shore, — only weak sand, — can clasp in its arms the 
strong and mighty sea and hold it there in its gentle 
embrace. 

And I came to my room where I live with my books ; 
and I began to muse how all the literatures of earth 
blossom like flowers varied and innumerable out of the 
few letters of the Alphabet. 

And I went over to the piano, to sing a hymn in honor 
of holy Mary, and I wondered again how all the melo- 
dies of music rest on only seven notes. And I 
thought again, as often before, how in the nature that 
surrounds and in its works we find so many beautiful 
types and striking counterparts of the wonders of God's 
grace in the realms of revelation. 

Only greatness can make itself little without losing 
its dignity. Each drop of water in the sea sleeping out 
there shrines the light of a thousand stars. 

So Mary consenting, shrined in her conception all the 
uncreated splendors of the Divinity. 

Deep as her life had been before it grew deeper day 
by day. 

She was leading, in a far-off way, the life of the 
Father of Eternity eternally conceiving and begetting 
His only Son. 



THE FLOWER 01^ THE CONSENT. 121 

After awhile she "will bring Him forth. But ah! 
Pure Virgin! before the Midnight of Christmas, fear 
will come to you and trouble will encompass you ! It ig 
the mystery of this world. It is the law of the Incar- 
nation. 

They, who are loved most by God, must suffer m.ost. 

But thy soul will rest, like a troubled child on the 
breast of its mother, in the sweet will of the Eternal 
Father 



ASPIEi^TION. 

"The rod of Jesse hath blossomed. A Virgin 
hath brought forth God and man. God hath given 
peace, reconciling the lowest with the highest in Him- 
self." — Missal 

Peayer. 

Strekgthek, Lord, in our minds, we beseech 
thee, the mysteries of the true faith; that we who 
confess him was conceived of a virgin to be true God 
and man, may, by the power of his saving resurrection, 
deserve to arrive at eternal joy. 



THIBTEENTE DAY. 



SJh^ i,U)Xitt mt tJxt Wi^xtutxtfn. 



"Arise my love, my beautiful one : and come ; my dove in the clifts 
of the rock, in the hollow places of the wall, show me thy face; let 
thy voice sound in my ears,— for thy voice is sweet."— C'a«^.,ii. 

Wheke the little city of Hebron nestles amid the 
mountains of Judea there was a holy and a happy home. 
Zachary an aged priest had long lived there with Eliza- 
beth his holy wife. She was a cousin of Mary of 
Nazareth, One day Zachary was burning incense in the 
Temple, while, as was the law, the people were praying 
without. "And there appeared to him an angel of the 
Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. 
And when Zachary saw him, he was troubled and fear 
fell upon him. But the angel said unto him : Fear not 
Zachary, for thy prayer is heard, and thy wife Elizabeth 
will bear thee a son and thou shalt call his name John. 
And thou shalt have joy and gladness; and many shall 
rejoice at his birth. For he shall be great in the sight 
of the Lord ; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost 
even from his mother's womb." And Zachary said unto 
the angel : How shall I know this ? For I am an old 
man and my wife is well stricken in years. And the 
angel answering, said unto him : '* I am Gabriel who 
stand in the presence of God, and am sent to speak 
unto thee and to show thee these glad tidings. And 
behold thou shalt be dumb until the day that these 
things shall be performed, because thou hast not be- 

(122) 



THE FLOWER OF THE TISITATIOIS^ 123 

lieved my words, which shall be fulfilled in thei'r 
season." 

The people were waiting and had wondered much 
why he tarried so long in the Temple. 

When he came out he could not speak, but only made 
a sign and then they knew that he had seen a vision in 
the temple. "And after those days his wife Elizabeth 
conceived/^ 

Long had they prayed that God would bless them 
with oflspring ; and at last their prayer is granted. 

But Zachary is speechless. He has lost his voice. 
How strange, that his child, when he faces the world 
thirty years afterwards, and when asked who he is, will 
answer " I am a voice crying in the wilderness.'^ 

To that home in the hill-country went Mary of Naza,- 
reth ; and Scripture tells us that she went in haste. 

From Nazareth to Jerusalem it was a long three days' 
journey. She passed by the Mount of Transfiguration. 
She passed by Calvary to reach the Holy City bearing 
the unborn victim. When she saw in the distance or 
near (or did she cross them ?) its dark gray rocks, did 
their shadows give to her soul the light of presenti- 
ments? Or was it more than mere presentiment? 
Who knows ? 

The young virgin mother hastens to meet the aged 
mother. 

The one bears the unborn Christ, — the other, His 
unborn precursor. The aged Elizabeth is the image of 
the Old Law passing away, which did not produce grace, 
but only promised and waited for it. Mary represents 
the New Law, — young and never to grow old, virginally 
fruitful of sanctity and abounding in ageless grace. 
The younger hastens to visit the older that truth may 



124 A CROWK FOR OUR QUEEK. 

meet the Figure 'ere it passes away, — that Substance 
may face the Shadow, and bless it 'ere it goes. And a^ 
Mary's presence, in after days, at the wedding-feast in 
Cana will be the means of eliciting from Christ the 
first Manifestation of His glory and the first Miracle of 
the New Law ; — so her going with her nnborn Child to 
Zachary's home brings the last manifestation and the 
last miracle of the spiritual life of the Old Law in the 
presanctification of John the Baptist. 

She brought Christ into the world (hidden as yeL) 
and now she brings Him to meet (hidden as Himself) 
and to bless His great Precursor. 

What a meeting it must have been between two such 
mothers of two such children ? There w^ill never be 
such a meeting in this world again. 

But let St. Luke describe it. 

She entered the house of Zachary, and saluted Eliza- 
beth. "And it came to pass that when Elizabeth heard 
the salutation of Mary ; the infant leaped in her womb, 
and Elizabeth w^as filled with the Holy Ghost. And 
she spoke with a loud yoice and said : ^ Blessed art thou 
among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb ; 
and whence is this to me that the Mother of my Lord 
should come to me ? For lo ! as soon as the voice of 
thy salutation sounded in my ears, the babe leaped in my 
womb for joy. And blessed art thou that hast believed, 
for all these things shall be accomplished which were 
told thee from the Lord.' ^' 

Listen ! — At the sound of the voice of Mary, Eliza- 
beth is filled with the Holy Ghost. Whose voice like 
her's save Christ's? And that voice is stronger now 
than ever. 

Up in yonder heaven, this peaceful evening, (for there 



THE FLOWER OF THE YISITATIOl^'. 125 

is a lull ill the winds and a holy hush out there on the 
wayes of the gulf.) (I wonder do they know that I am 
trying to praise the Queen of Heaven and Star of the 
Sea ?) Mary's voice is the sweetest music in the ears of 
God, and the mighty power of grace for us. 

Oh voice above all voices, save the voice of Him who 
was and is thine forever, plead with the Father for us. 

Thy voice has the tones of the voice of His Eternal 
Son, — and the Father loves to hear them. 

Sweeter than all the voices of the angels in melody, — 
and next to the very voice of God in might ! 

" Blessed art thou among women " came from the lips 
of her cousin ; — the very words of Gabriel to herself. 
Zachary stood by the mystery, speechless; as Joseph 
stood by the greater mystery, silent. Elizabeth, the 
mother of the Precursor, " filled with the Holy Ghost,'' 
is the first after the Archangel Gabriel to give public 
testimony of an honor above all honors, saving that due 
to God alone, to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Was she 
wrong? Was it too much or too great? But, — she 
was filled with the Holy Ghost. She spoke with His 
inspiration. It was the Holy Ghost speaking through 
her aged lips. 

Thus Christ and the Precursor met, — and they met 
through their mothers. Wondrous mystery ! too deep 
in the least of its meanings for any lips to tell, save 
Mary's. 

So let us be still while Mary sings the first and 
grandest To Deum of Eedemption 

Magnificat* 

My soul doth magnify the Lord, 

And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviouh 



126 A CROWK FOR OUR QUEEK. 

Because He hath regarded the humility of His hand- 
maid : for behold from henceforth all generations shall 
call me blessed. 

For He that is mighty hath done great things to me, 
and holy is His name, 

And His mercy is from generation to generation to 
them that fear Him. 

He hath showed might in His arm ; He hath scat- 
tered the proud in the conceit of their heart. 

He hath put down the mighty from their seat ; and 
hath exalted the humble. 

He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the 
rich He hath sent empty away. 

He hath received Israel His servant ; being mindful 
of His mercy. 

As He spoke to our fathers ; to Abraham and to his 
seed forever. 

Thus Mary, in the ^^ecstacy of humility," chants the 
first Christian psalm. It was her royal right as queen 
of her Son's Kingdom. There is no song on key as lofty 
in all Scripture. It lives an everlasting life in the Ves- 
pers of Holy Church. No wonder when it is en toned 
the people rise to honor its every syllable. 

No wonder that in Solemn Vespers, the altar is 
incensed; for the closed tabernacle contains the very 
Holy One who was then hidden in her womb. 

'Tis a song enshrining all the grandeurs of God, for it 
contains and expresses the greatest things which God 
has done in time and eternity, in Heaven and on earth, 
for His own glory and the happiness of His children. 
It was the grand human echo of the music of divine 
mercy then silent in her bosom. For the unborn Child 
in tones unheard sang the Magnificat with His Mother. 



THE FLOWER OF THE YISITATIOX. 127 

The first announcement that the Messiah had come was 
by His Mother's song. 

She remained with her cousin until the Child was 
born. In her own arms she held Him, Who thirty 
years afterwards will baptize her own Son. And the 
Precursor of her child nestled on her bosom. 

Eight days afterwards they came to circumcise the 
Child. Then the speechless Zachary opened his long- 
closed lips in sudden song. 

The harmonies of grace broken by the discord of sin 
are coming back to earth. Zachary sings his Be:n"e- 
DiCTUS. But Mary's Magnificat had already entoned 
the first notes of the eternal hymn of divine Mercy. 

Ah me! discords still wdll come to mar the beauty of 
the holy hymn. But Mary's Yoice is ever ready, sweet 
and tender, if only we plead with her, to bring, by its 
own power, our voices, our hearts and our lives into 
the harmony of the eternal hymn again. 



AsPIRATIOi^. 

"BlesSlB iirt thou among women, and blessed is the 
fruit of thy w^omb ! And whence is this to mr, that the 
Mother of my Lord should come to me?" — Lnhe i, 42. 

Prayer. 

Vouchsafe, Lord, we beseech thee, to us thy ser- 
vants the gift of thy heavenly grace ; that as in the 
childbirth of the blessed Virgin our salvation began, 
so from the votive solemnity of her Visitation we may 
obtain an increase of peace. 



FO TJRTEENTH DA F. 



%\\t ^Uxs^tt 0f Wu i.u.x. 



'Tear not, Mary, for thou hast found gracj with God."— Xw.le, i. 

All the Feasts of the Old Covenant were historical 
and memorial. There was not a single day set apart in 
honor of a divine Truth. The very Sabbath was more 
a memorial-dav of God's rest, than a reminder of His 
Nature and attributes. 

The Pasch, Pentecost, Feast of Tabernacles and others 
were merely commemorative of the great facts of 
Hebrew history. But while those festivals borrowed 
their meanings from the past, they were shadows of a 
great coming Future. The Feast of Expiation, the only 
day in the year, v/hen the white-robed High Priest 
entered the Holy of Holies merely represented the sin- 
fulness of the people, and typically foreshadowed the day 
of Eedemption. 

Not so the Feasts of the New Dispensation. The 
living truth in the beautiful variety and the more 
beautiful harmony of Dogmas is their primary object, — 
commemoration is but secondary. What was typical in 
the Old Law is mystical in the New. For the New 
Law is an ever present Life,— that of the ever-living 
Christ. We have, of course, seven signs or symbols 
called Sacraments ; but they are more than signs, they 
are the supernatural activities of the divine life of 
Christ in the Church made present and sensible. The 

(128) 



THE FLOWER OF THE FEAR. 129 

old Hebrew Church was a Shadow-Ohurch. Ours is 
the Church of the divine Substance. The priests and 
people of the old Dispensation, generally, kept their 
Shadow-Feasts wath wonderful strictness and fidelity, 
wherein, they have left an example which many Chris- 
tians would honor themselves by following. 

Joseph, always attentive to the strictest observance of 
the Law, never failed to go down to Jerusalem and to 
assist with fervor at the services on the great Feasts. 

And, always, poor though he was, would he bring 
his humble offerings to the Temple. The journey was 
too long for Mary, and besides, to some of the Festivals 
the Hebrew women were not obliged, by the law, to go. 
And, further, in most of the towns of Judea there were 
synagogues which stood instead of the Temple. 

So after that 25th of March Joseph went down to cele- 
brate, at least, the latter days of the Paschal Festival. 
And Mary was left alone, — with her mysterious secret. 
Joseph's absence, for a single day, was wont to make 
her sorrowful; but now a change had come over her 
soul, and the pain of parting was not so great. Not 
that her pure love for him had diminished. Contrari- 
wise it had increased; but a love of all loves deepest 
was filling the Virgin-heart: — a mother's love for an 
unborn Child, — and it, — her very God. Joseph returned 
from the Feast of the Pasch. Closer and closer together 
grew their hearts. Mary prayed, — and Joseph marked 
it, — more frequently and with a fervor that looked like 
rapture. And in the long- evenings she would ask him 
to read the old Scriptures and its strange prophecies 
about the Messiah. 

He was a man learned in the Law; and while his 
outer life was a life of daily toil that seemed scarcely in 



130 A CROWX FOR OUR QUEEK. 

keeping with much or deep thought: — he, nevertheless, 
in unknown, inner life, lived more with the great 
prophets of the past than in the noisy discussions of the 
present teachers of the Law. How could the Emmanuel 
be conceived by a Virgin, — and how could a virgin 
bring Him forth, — as Isaias had predicted; — she would 
oftimes ask Joseph. She knew the secret. She was 
hiding it in her heart. Was she trying him by her 
questions? Was she striving to reach his inner 
thought? Was she thinking of the day when the 
mystery, in herself, would be manifested? 

Joseph would listen, — and ponder long in silence, as 
he had done a thousand times before, but he could not 
solve the mysterious Prophecy. 

Did she ever answer him ; — or did he ever say to her: 
" Nothing shall be impossible with God.^' And, all the 
while, a great fear like a shadow that folds the hill, Avas 
creeping around her heart. 

Again Joseph was obliged to go down to the Holy- 
City for the Feast of Pentecost. Jerusalem, like all 
other cities, either Hebrew or Christian, when external 
ordinances are of more importance than interior piety^ 
was gossippy, talkative, curious, questioning. It busied 
itself about everybody. It. had not forgotten the day of 
the Espousals of the best Hebrew of their race to its 
most beautiful Maiden. And they would ask Joseph 
about Mary. His answers were as brief as they were 
gently given. The High-priest and the priests would 
express their hopes that God would bless Mary with 
offspring. No word, — spake he then, — save perhaps: 
" God's will is best.^^ Eor none there knew of his vow 
of virginity. He was the most secret and silent saint 
that ever lived in this world of vain and useless and 



THE FLOWER OF THE PEAR. 131 

commonplace chatter. Home he came again. Up the 
long, narrow street that led to his dwelling and his shop 
he walked; — but Mary met him on the humble thres- 
hold, — in sooth more like a child and daughter than a 
woman and his spouse. Did he mark it ? She was be- 
coming more like a child day by day? Or were his eyes 
veiled yet for awhile. May with its flowers, — the angels 
of the valley passed. June came with her splendors of 
earth and sky, and the birds were singing vesper-songs 
up in the bitter-sweet almond-trees, — when: — 

Hush and listen. All-day long Joseph had been 
working in his shop. He was very tired. All day long 
Mary had been praying in her humble room. 

Had she a presentiment. All day long a great fear 
was folding darkest shadows around her soul; — and she 
was heart-tired. 

Joseph entered. She rose to meet him. Ah! the 
look that swept like a cloud across his face ! Ah. ! the 
storm that rushed over her soul ! 

It was a minute with infinite sorrow in it for both. 

In his face suspicion. In her heart terror. In his 
jeyes an awful doubt. On her face the white pallor of 
an indescribable pain. 

His eyes could not deceive him. The hidden mystery 
stood manifested before him. She was going to be a 
mother. The signs were there. Has she broken her 
vow ? If not the purest virgin, she must be the vilest 
outcast. Men are more suspicious than women, — and 
though he was a saint Joseph was a man, — ^with a man's 
temperament. 

But to be suspected of sin in that which was the very 
mystery of sanctity was a blow that fell heavy on her 
heart; — but to be suspected by him, her husband 



133 A CEOWK POR OUR QUEEX, 

according to the law, almost broke her heart. If he 
puts her away; if he denounces her, her unborn Child, 
who is the Blessing of the world, will bear the brand of 
an eternal curse. The haunting doubt that lurked in the 
eyes of Joseph ; — his voice that hesitated when he spoke 
to her ; his manner so gentle and simple that now put 
on a strange constraint; — his cold silence; but above 
all that look that seemed to mar the very sanctity of his 
face, filled the soul of Mary with all the terrors of a 
great overmastering fear. If he only asked a question, — 
but his lips were sealed. If she could only tell the 
secret, — but she dare not lift the lid of Mystery. Ah ! 
Mary! before your child has appeared, you begin to live 
his life. His own people will doubt, and deny His 
divinity, and crucify Him. Joseph has doubts of your 
virginity, which is to you, what Divinity is to your 
unborn Child. His own people will lead Him to cruci- 
fixion ; — your own Spouse crucifies you on the cross 
of his doubt. His own people will know not what they 
do. Did he not pray it: *^ Forgive them Father, for 
they know not what they do.'' Your own Joseph 
knoweth not what he is doing. 

Go to rest, if rest you can to-night, virgin of sorrow, 
but around thy heart the very hand of Joseph has 
woven, by his suspicion, a crown of thorns. So they, his 
people, will weave another for the brow of your Son, and 
they will look upon Him on Calvary as Joseph, not 
knowing all, looks upon you to-night, — as a malefactor ! 
Oh! the wondrous silences of God! Why does He not 
speak just one word in Nazareth? Why does not 
Gabriel come right down to Joseph, and rebuke him for 
his doubt? Why does he not descend again to Mary 
and bring her consolation and give her hope ? Let God 
alone. 



THE FLOWER OF THE FEAR, 133 

Let Mary suffer all the anguish of fear. Let Joseph 
suffer all the pangs of doubt. Sorrow like theirs is the 
shadow of God coming nearer and nearer. 

Wait till its darkest folds encircle them. The shadow 
over the Holy of Holies betokened God's invisible 
Presence. Such sorrow as theirs i*s the Holy of Holies 
that hides the nearest Presence of God. 

Next day came. They prayed apart. A Vv^all of sep- 
aration divided their souls. Joseph went to his shop 
and worked on in a weary way. Tears were sleeping in 
eyes ; pain was gnawing at his heart. He was standing 
beneath a great dark cloud. All day long his thoughts 
were tortures. 

What should he do? Denounce Mary? And his 
ears began to listen to the awful sounds of the cruel 
stones that would slay his child-spouse. For what else 
was she but a child ? Would he lay his sorrow before 
the priests of the Temple ? Ah ! no ! Mary was the 
child of the Temple, — the very rngel of Jerusalem. 
And how the infamy would spread through Judea. 

What should he do? What else but pray, — and per- 
haps some light would come from Heaven. Or, he 
thought: — "I will put her away privately." 

And Mary ? It was her hour of agony. If an angel 
came to Gethsemane in years long after to comfort her 
Christ; did an angel come to her that day to brighten 
the darkness around her ? 

All day long she prayed; — and sorrow gave swift 
wings to her prayers. 

Her heart was whelmed in a sea of grief dark and 
deep and stormful, but far over the waters,— Avalking 
them as her Son will walk the waves of Galilee here- 
in 



134 A CROWX FOR OUIl QUEEIs^T. 

after, — came the beautiful feet of Peace; — not to her, 
first, but to Joseph in his sleep. 

" Yes, — I will put her away privately.'^ ^'No one will 
know of it but my own heart." Came the awful rush of 
sorrow's torrents through his soul. He prayed and 
wept himself to sleep. "And behold the angel of the 
Lord " (was it Gabriel ? ) appeared to him in his sleep, 
saying: "Joseph, Son of David, fear not to take unto 
thee Mary thy wife, for that w^hich is conceived in her, 
is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, 
and thou shalt call His name Jesus; for He shall save 
His people from their sins." 

It was m the first watches of the night. Mary was 
praying for sleep had fled from her eyes. Came a call, — 
and Joseph's voice : " Mary ! " Never had she been 
called at such a time and in such a tone before. She 
went out to meet him. His face was her salutation. 
The glory of honor and the rapture of adoration blended 
in his looks. Did he kneel at her feet to adore the 
" Word made Flesh" tabernacled in her ? Yes, — and if 
she was the first, he was the second Christian. No need 
of words ! Did he try to frame his mistaken doubt in 
words? 

Did they kneel down, and with hearts and voices 
blended, more closely now than e>er, adore together the 
Word Incarnate ? 

Ah Joseph! you said in your thoughts: "The fruit 
of her womb is not my child." The w^orld will call 
him so ; and, with the glory of a divine revenge, Mary, 
whom you doubted, the child of the Temple, will cry 
aloud in the Temple, with the same gladness, after sor- 
row, felt by you, in presence of the doctors of the law 
and the priests: ^^'Son why hast thou done so to us. 



THE FLOWER OF THE FEAR. 135 

Do you not know that thy Father and I have sought 
thee sorrowing three days ? '^ 

Next day came. And now two know the mystery of 
the Incarnation: Mary the Mother that is to be, the 
purest of the pure in Judea; and Joseph the foster- 
father that is to be, — the most just man in Israel. 

"In the mouth of two witnesses every word shall 
stand." In the testimony of Mary and Joseph the 
eternal Word will stand in the glory of His truth. For 
the rest of the world was the expectation of the 
Messiah. 

To Mary and Joseph He was already come. They 
had and hid His Presence. In after days His priests, 
sharing the power of Mary His Mother, and the pre- 
rogatives of Joseph His foster-father, will mystically 
yet really conceive Him, by the words of Consecration, 
on the altar; — and like Joseph His foster-father, will 
keep care for Him in the tabernacle; and when, needs 
be, will carry Him into the Egyptian darkness of the 
dying. Oh! Mary! thou art called our sweet Hope 
and our Peace, but thou hast become so unto us, by the 
agony of thy great Fear. For Hope wears the sandals 
of fear. 

We praise thee and bless thee in the clouds of thy 
sorrow as in the brightness of thy glory ! In our fears, 
— and ah! how many they are; send our angels to us, 
as came the angel to Joseph, .and let hope and holy 
peace dispel the darkness and bring us the light of 
earthly and eternal rest ! 



ASPIRATIOK. 

" I WILL not fear thousands of the people surrounding 
me. Arise, oh Lord ! Save me, oh my God." — Psalm, iii. 



136 a crowx por ouk queel^. 

Pkayer. 

Pour forth, we beseech thee, Lord, thy grace 
into our hearts : that we, to whom the incarnation of 
Christ thy Son was made known by the message of an 
angel, may by His passion and cross be brought to the 
glory of His resurrection. 




FIFTEENTH DA Y. 



%\it Jl0w^v 0f tft^ i,Vx^\\\. 



** Arise, and take the child and His mother and fly into Egpjrt, and 
be there until I shall tell thee."— ifa^/i., ii. 

Ix Jerusalem Herod had heard from the wise men of 
the birth of the new-born King. He feared a rival. He 
had waited for the return of the men who had come 
from the East, — but he waited in vain. They had been 
admonished to return by a different way to their own 
countries. Jealousy is always cruel, — sometimes savage. 
Many children had been born in and around Bethle- 
hem about the time of the birth of Christ. Baflled in 
his desire to discover the new-born King he would not 
be baulked in his design to destroy him. Jealousy like 
his has patience to wait. He kept his seer t. "I will 
slay all the children in Bethlehem and the coasts thereof, 
from two years of age and under,'^ he said in his 
wicked heart. He bided his time. "I will send my 
soldiers to do the work," he said to himself. The day 
had not yet come ; but an angel had come to Joseph in 
sleep and bade him to take the child and his mother 
and to go down into Egypt. In the night time he rose 
and took the child and his mother, — and hurried out 
towards the deserts. 

The day of massacre came. Brutal soldiers tore the 
little children from their mothers' arms and heedless of 
their wild wailings and hardened against the innocent, 

12* (137) 



138 A CnOWK FOR OUR QUEEl!^. 

pleading faces of the poor infants put them mercilessly 
to death. 

The law of sacrifice the shedding of the blood 
of Innocence began thus in the New Kingdom. The 
little King of Sacrifice is hurrying out to the great, 
bleak deserts, — driven from his home into exile. Joseph 
bears the frail burden, and carries his God. Mary, her 
heart overwhelmed with fear, startled by every sound, 
walks beside the foster father of her child. They are 
going to Egypt. The way is long and lone and drear. 
But God gives strength to all who fulfill His great 
design?. Day by day they traveled on. Across those 
same deserts from Egypt to Judea had come the Hebrews. 
In these deserts the Covenant had been made with them 
by the Lord. In those same deserts, in the first ages of 
the Church Avill live anchorites and monks without 
number, — exiles from the world where the child Christ 
passed an exile from His own Judea. 

Full of memories of the old dispensation and full of 
memories of the new dispensation are those bleak deserts. 

Amid those wildernesses will live men of loftiest lives. 
No wonder. Christ passed over them ; and where He 
passes grace blossoms into beautiful virtues. In the 
night the sands of the deserts was their resting-place. 
Dangers lurked along all their way, — but there are no 
guardians like the angels. Day followed day and night 
followed night, — and still on traveled the three exiles 
to the land of Idolatry. In Egypt they worshipped the 
sun; and now the Sun of Justice in the wondrous 
eclipse of a Child's form is about to rise above the hori- 
zon of that land. 

Hunger and thirst they often suffered. Did angels 
bring them manna ? Their passage across the desert is 



THE FLOWER OF THE FLIGHT. 139 

as silent as the desert itself- Tradition tells us of lofty 
trees that bent down to give them shade and shelter ; 
and that when they entered Egypt many idols fell in the 
temples. At last they reached the "land of bondage; — 
and dwelt in or near Heliopolis. How" long they 
remained in exile we do not know. Joseph the Carpen- 
ter worked at his trade procuring daily bread for the 
Child-God and His Mother. 

Meanwhile the Child grew apace and Mary and 
Joseph rose higher and higher in Sanctity. What suf- 
ferings and privations they must have endured ? What 
sorrow was theirs to live under the dark shadow of 
heathenism ! He came unto His own and His own drove 
Him away. And now He hides in the home of idols. 
How strangely the first years of Christ are passing! 
But His Mother is with Him. Mother and Child 
together, — you cannot separate them without contra- 
dicting the closeness of their lives. What mighty 
adorations of the true God in Child-form came out of 
the hearts of Mary and Joseph in the land where the 
very memory and name of the true God had been lost! 
How the Flower of the Flight bloomed in to w^onderf ul 
spiritual beauties; and all in shadow and in sorrow. 

Poor Egypt knew not the glory hidden near the banks 
of the Nile. How God does hide Himself, and for so 
long before He makes a sign of His presence and 
His power ! Men are forward whose God is shy. Men 
are loud and proud whose God is still and humble. 

Far away in Jerusalem, if Simeon were still living 
what must have been his thoughts ? 

Did he miss the Mother and the Child? Was he 
waiting for another glimpse of them to bless his eyes ? 
In the Temple regular w^as the course and order of 



140 A CROWX FOK OUR QUEEi^. 

sacrifice and ceremony. Daily on the altars came and 
went the shadows typical of the Messias; while the 
shadow of the Child-Christ, already come and gone for 
awhile away was reflected on the waters of the Nile. 

What spiritual work unknown to the Egyptians was 
the Christ doing in their land ? From the first instant 
of His birth He was working His Father's will though 
not in a manifest way. And Mary!— did not virtue go 
out from her silently yet none the less really in that 
strange land ? 

Stars that are never seen are doing silent work all the 
while in this world of ours. The trees and flowers and 
fruits and seas know it and feel it. So in Egypt, Jesus, 
Mary and Joseph were, though hidden, doing wondrous 
work that will never be known. 

Herod died and to Joseph came from heaven thro' an 
angel a message to return to Judea. 

Obscure persons, — the Holy Family was not noticed 
when they entered Egypt, nor were they missed when 
they left the place of their exile. Baronius thinks that 
the flight into Egypt took place in Christ's first year 
and that He returned when He was nine years of age. 
Back across the deserts they came again, — enduring 
privations of hunger and hardship, of weary travel and 
thirst and of dangers of every kind. The tender feet 
of Christ are blistered by the scorching sands and for 
Him to sufi'er so was a part of the Martyrdom of His 
Mother ; and Joseph sufi'ered, as shall never be known in 
the charge which was his burden as well as his glory. 
How few ever travel in spirit those dreary wildernesses! 
Ah! blessed sands consecrated by the feet of Mary and 
Jesus and Joseph ; — made holy by the passage of Holi- 
ness — cry out to the world the mystery of hate that 



THE FLOWER OF THE FLIGHT. 141 

banished them from home, and the mystery of love that 
brought them back to Nazareth, where Joseph was to 
sink to rest after a little while, and where Mary was to 
watch over her child and our Saviour until the day of 
His manifestation when again human hate would face 
Divine Law and pursue and persecute the Christ until 
He would reach the cross on Calvary, — where He would 
be found with His Mother standing beside Him ! 

Hate exiled Him. Love brought Him back. Sin, 
which is hate, exiles us from God. Love brings us back 
to the Nazareth of grace where, side by side, we find 
Jesus and His Mother. Mary brought Him back ; and 
ah ! is^she not forever and ever bringing us back to Him. 
Let us then fly to her protection and call on her name, — 
exiles as we are in this valley of tears and she, who 
brought Him to Nazareth for us, will bring us to His 
house of grace and to His home of glory in heaven. 



Aspirations. 
"From Egypt have I called thee." 

_ Prayer. 

God, who wast pleased that thy Word, at the 
message of an angel, should take flesh in the womb of 
the blessed Virgin Mary: grant to us thy suppliants, 
that we who believe her to be truly the Mother of God 
may be assisted by her intercessions with thee. 



SIXTEENTH DAY. 



m.t iSmtx cf Wn Pitluiobt cf W^m. 



" Glory "be to God in the highest and peace on earth to men of good 
will."-XwAe, ii. 

Dow:n" ill Brazil there is a flower of rarest beauty 
which blooms only at midnight. It is found far in 
the heart of the great silent forests. The sun passes 
over its close-shut leaves in the day; — but when night 
comes they open and the forests are filled with its sweet 
perfume. 

" The stars were in the middle of their courses : '^ it 
was the noon of night. A hush fell around a stable 
outside of Bethlehem, — like the deep silence that comes 
over the people in the temple a little while before the 
moment of the Consecration in the Mass: — For the 
Holy of Holies was about to enter His creation in 
visible form. Kine months He had been in it, — but 
hidden. Joseph and Mary had been obliged to go to 
Bethlehem to be enrolled, because they belonged to 
the house and family of David. The order had come 
from Eome. How many another order will go forth to 
the world from Christian Eome? So to Bethlehem 
they came. Up and down the narrow streets they 
had gone in the closing of the day seeking a shelter 
for the coming night. But in the city of their royal 
ancestors there was no place for them in the inn. " He 
came unto His own and His own received Him not." 



FLOWED OP THE MIDNIGHT OP MERCY. 143 

Mary's heart sank within her because she knew 
that His and her hour was nigh. Out towards the 
cold, bleak plains they went, — plains which were the 
property of the Temple where the animals to be used 
in sacrifices were kept and fed by herdsmen and shep- 
herds. 

They reached a rude stable hollowed in the rock. 
They entered. A few animals were there that gazed 
in mute wonder at the intruders. He was to be born 
outside of the city of His ancestors. He was to die 
outside of the city of the Temple. The night grew 
on apace. All was still. The world slept while the 
great Waker was coming. Ah ! there was wonder in 
the hearts of the angels that night. They breath- 
lessly awaited the mystery to become yisible. Sud- 
denly as a flower exhales its perfumes; — stilly and 
painlessly as the ray reflects its light, the Virgin 
brought forth the Word Incarnate; and wrapped the 
infant God in swaddling clothes and laid Him in a 
manger. Ah! her rapture as she gazed on the little 
face ! A mother s love and a creature's adoration met 
in her heart and were blended, in her first look upon 
the infant The mother^ f j-miliarity and the creature's 
awful reyerence met the mystery. And Joseph fell 
prostrate in worship intense, — overpowered by the awful 
responsibility placed upon him, — the charge of Mary 
the mother and the care of God His own creator, — 
now his foster child. Not a sound on earth;— but 
listen, the yery angels haye left the heayens and they 
are singing " Gloria in Excelsis '^ up in the starry still- 
ness of the sky. " Glory be to God in the highest." 
And is this glory? Out on the hills the shepherds 
were watching the sheep destined for the sacrifices of 



144 A crow:n" poe our queek. 

the Temple. They left the sheep and they found the 
Shepherd of souls in the stable. For : Lo ! the angel 
of the Lord came upon them and the glory of the 
Lord shone round about them and they were very 
much afraid. And the angel said unto them, "Fear 
not; for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy 
which shall be to all the people : - for unto you is born 
in the city of David, a Saviour who is Christ the Lord. 
And this shall be a sign unto you: you shall find the 
infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a 
manger." Was it Gabriel that spoke to them "Fear 
not," that night of the Lord's coming, the very words 
that he had said to Mary before she gave her consent 
to let Him come through her ? And suddenly there 
was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly hosts, 
praising God and saying: "Glory to God in the 
highest, and peace on earth to men of good will." 
And the shepherds said to one another : " Let us go 
over to Bethlehem and see this thing which has come 
to pass which the Lord hath made known unto us. 
And they came in haste and found Mary and Joseph 
and the infant lying in a manger." 

Mark: — first came the tidings in angelic song to 
those who were watching the sheepfolds that belonged 
to the Temple for sacrificial purposes. They came 
and they found in the crib " the Lamb slain from the 
foundation of the world " in the sweet form of a little 
babe. But they wondered only. How could they com- 
prehend the mystery of the manger. 

Let us go with them. How often we have done so 
on many a Christmas night ! Let us enter. We find 
as they found Mary and Joseph and the infant; — an 
earthly Trinity in the stable. Faith still wonders as 



PLOWER OP THE MDis-IGHT OF :aERCY. 145 

the shepherds did. And Faith still finds what they 
did find, — Mary and her child. Kneel down now and 
adore the infant. The Mother has taken it from the 
cold crib to her warm bosom. You cannot take the 
child out of those arms; or from that breast. It is 
the first altar purer than any altar ever to be in all 
time. And those arms own that child. 

Do you adore? Adoration of Ilim is veneration of 
her. Do you praise ? Praise of Him is honor for 
her. 

Mother and child together, — united indissolubly for- 
ever. In the Promise, — in the Conception and now 
the bond of birthhood unites them visibly. 

In that stable, the haunt of animals, all the mys- 
teries of Redemption begin to meet. Strange ! Those 
mysteries were conceived and decreed amid the splen- 
dors of the heavens ; and now they are fulfilled in 
the squalor of a stable. Let God alone. He has 
come to reverse human standards. lie has come to 
revolutionize all the criteria of this world. Omnipo- 
tence becomes powerlessness. Eiches eternal become 
Poverty. Immensity circumscribes itself in an infant's 
little face and form; and God's highest glory on earth 
begins in a stable ! and it will end on a cross ! 

End? — Ah no, — it will never end. 

Who presides over the Mystery's beginning ? Mary, 
the Child's Mother. And she will preside over all 
Redemption's mysteries with all the right and power 
of a mother down to the last. In as true a sense 
as the word means she is co-redemptress of the human 
race. Christ is ours because lie was hers. She is 
the human mother of the Father's consubstantial eter- 
nal Son. By divine decree from all eternity, and by 

13 



146 A CROWiT POR OUR QUSEiT. 

that decree's accomplishment in time, Mary, Virgin 
and Mother has become a necessary factor in Chris- 
tian faith. Therefore she cannot be left out without 
marring the completeness of Faith. 

If the whole wide world keeps Christmas as a day 
of abounding joy it is because she gave the Christ, 
who is the joy of Christmas, to the whole world. That 
stable has multiplied into hundred of thousands of 
temples. That manger has grown into millions of 
altars. The Temple means the stable and the altar 
means the crib. So, in temple and at altar we must 
find what the shepherds found Mary with her child. 
Mother and child together. You cannot, dare not part 
them. The very stable would protest, had it a voice ; 
and the poor, humble straw made consecrate by becom- 
ing the first resting place of the Word Incarnate, 
would protest. And Joseph, and the shepherds and 
the mother; — but above all the child. Let him stay 
in His Mother's arms. Next to His Father's bosom, 
her breast is His place. AVonderful mystery! Who 
can understand it? 

The mother, — a creature, clasps and kisses her cre- 
ator! Well — is it not a mystery of Love? 

Our Holy Church, like the stable, keeps the Mother 
and Joseph and the child together. In the inn, they 
were told that there was no room for them. There 
are so-called churches like the inn. They have no 
room for Mary and Joseph. They have room only for 
Christ. His Mother and His foster-father must stay 
outside the doors, forsooth! Christ and only Him is 
their cry. There is no such thing as Christ solitary 
and alone. He is akin to our race on His Mother's 
side. She is the bond of the kinship, — she, and her 



FLOAYER OF THE MIDNIGHT OF MERCY. 147 

blood. Thrust her aside, you must thrust Him away. 
No — no. He will stay with His Mother and she 
will stay by Him. And both together will stay with 
us. Mother and child together. 

The Catholic temple or humblest chapel on Christ- 
mas night and day represent the stable. We have 
room for them— Jesus, Josepli, Mary. The rest of 
the churches represent the inn. They have no room 
for them. Ah! humble crib thou didst not stay in 
the stable. Thou hast moved down the centuries and 
across the w^orld, — and not only on Christmas night 
and day; — but every hour of time thou, transformed 
into countless altars, art still presenting to the eyes 
and heart of faith the story of the stable ; and Mary 
the Mother is always there, — in her own place, — and 
if she had power to give the Christ birth, which is 
the grandest power of all, she has all other powers 
which that contains, — and has them forever. 

The birth was, by divine operation on the sinless 
Mary, without throes of sorrow, — but with throbs of 
rapture. The sinlessness of the Mother sweetened the 
humiliation of Christ. He came from the sinless 
heavens through His sinless Mother to save the sin- 
ful world. Can the world forget that Mother ? Ought 
not every child of the human race love Mary with a 
devotion only inferior to love for God? 

And remember, because of being His Mother, Mary 
became, in a sense the superior of Christ. If He 
obeyed the law that was passing away, — He, with 
greater reason, obeyed His Mother, because she had 
more right to His submission than the law. 

The story of that Midnight can never pass away. 
And Holy Church keeps forever on her altars the 



148 A CROw:>^ POP. OUR quee:n'. 

echoes of the ^^ Gloria in Excehisr It was not sung 
until Mary bent over the babe in the crib, — and now 
it will be sung forever. 

Oh! Holy Mary! thou didst bring forth our Saviour 
in a poor and squalid stable for all the world. Bring 
Ilim forth in our poor souls, by thy prayers and inter- 
cessions! As in Holy Church — so in our hearts we 
will have room for Jesus, Joseph and Mary. 



ASPIRATIOK. 

^'K LIGHT shall shine upon us this day: for our 
Lord is born to us : and he shall be called Wonder- 
ful, God, the Prince of peace, the Father of the 
world to come; of whose reign there shall be no end." 
— /5., ix. 

The Lord hath reigned, he is clothed with beauty : 
the Lord is clothed with strength, and hath girded 
himself." — Psalm, xcii. 

Peayer. 

Grakt, we beseech thee. Almighty God, that we 
who are filled with the new light of thy incarnate 
Word, may show forth in our works what by faith 
ghineth in our minds. 



8EYENTEENTE DAY, 



%\t ^in ia th< (&u\. 



'* Beho'd the Lord the Ruler is come ; and a kingdom is in his 
hand, and power and dominion. Give to the king thy judgment, 
O God; and to the king's son thy justice."— J/a/., iii. 

To-day a star instead of a flower for the crown of 
the Quean. To simple, humble shepherds near Beth- 
lehem watching the flocks that belonged to the Temple 
came first the sign of the Messiah's birth. That sign 
was supernatural and angelic. The angels that gang 
the Gloria in the heavens that night w^ere the first 
Apostles proclaiming the first visible Mystery of Jesus 
Christ. And that the gentle, humble and simple first 
heard the tidings presaged that in the new Kingdom 
simplicity and humility and poverty would gain the 
first and highest favors from the King whose palace, 
that night, was a stable. 

But beyond the boundaries of Judea hiy in dark- 
ness the great Gentile world. They too will have their 
sign and that in tlie heavens. Their hearts were 
hungry for God, — so hungry that they had thousands 
of gods from the stones beneath them to the stars 
above them. 

The modern monster, — the atheist had not yet made 
his appearance. Their gods were material things — • 
things to look upon with their eyes;— -to kneel down 
before with their body— and to touch with their hands. 

13* (U9) 



150 A CROW^r POR OXJH QUEEK. 

Their very idols, — Gods in material form curiously 
hinted at the true God's coming in visible form. 

Throughout the East men studied the skies more 
than the earth, while in the West men gavo more atten- 
tion to the soil beneath their feet. Dreamers from the 
East, — practical people from the West. 

Through those nations dim traditions had floated 
like fragments of a lost beautiful song — and one of 
those traditions, they knew not Avhence it came, was a 
prophecy that a wonderful star would rise in the 
heavens to herald the coming of the Expectation of 
the World. It was transmitted from generation to 
generation and from age to age. Those ancient peoples 
had marvellous memory. Their world moved slow. 
To forget is a signal trait of the busy Moderns. 

They have no time to remember. They fling the 
yesterdays away as soon as the to-day dawns. 

The predicted star at last rose in splendor in the 
heavens— a beacon light to guide the wise men to the 
crib. One from Persia, — one from Arabia and one 
from far Ethiopia. It must have appeared long before 
the angels sent the shepherds to the stable. When 
they approached Jerusalem the star vanished. Were 
they deceived? Was their long journey but a folly? 
Surrounded by their servants they entered Jerusalem 
in all their oriental splendor. The people gazed at 
them in wonder and admiration. "Where is he, they 
asked, who is born King of the Jews ? for we have 
seen his star in the East and have come to adore 
him ? " Had they beside the sign in the sky to guide 
their way, — a revelation in their heart that the new- 
born king was God to be adored ? Trouble in the 
heart of Herod, — and trouble in all Jerusalem. The 



THE STAR IZsT THE EAST. 151 

priests are assembled : Herod puts the question — 
*• Where will He be horn?" "In Bethlehem" — came 
the answer. 

Leaving Jerusalem the star reappeared and glad- 
ness filled their hearts. From Jerusalem to Bethle- 
hem only six miles. Did the three kings, — the shep- 
herds of the people, pass, on their way to the crib, the 
shepherds of the Temple's flocks. 

The star stopped over where the child was. 

"And when they were come in they saw the child 
with Mary his Mother, — and they adored him and 
offered to him gold, frankincense and myrrh." 

Was the child resting on the Mother's breast, — as 
on an altar ? 

Again Mother and child together. Through her they 
offered their symbolical gifts to the child. Were they 
wrong ? Can we not offer our gifts through her to Him ? 

When a gift to a child passes across the palm of 
a mother's hand, it becomes more precious. 

How Mary must have wondered at these men from 
the East? First came simplicity and humility in garb 
of shepherJ. Her ancestor David wa? a shepherd and 
had fed his flocks nigh unto the very stable. But 
the Shepherd David became a King. The Kings 
came next to adore. They came with their riches, 
their culture, their power. And these three things 
which rule the world are still outstripped on the path 
to truth by sim.plicity a'ld humility. And always 
shall be. 

At both these comings to Christ, Mary prseides. 
As the mother of the child-king she was queen in 
His palace- stable to the v^ise men as well as to the 
shepherds. 



153 A CKOWK FOR OUR QUEEIfT. 

And when that stable shall be multiplied and trans- 
formed into countless temples, she still will be queen 
to the lofty as well as to the lowly. She still will pre- 
side as queen and the gold of all human gifts and the 
frankincense of prayer and the myrrh of all beautiful 
virtues will be presented through her to her Son. 
Kings will lay their crowns, — queens their jewels, sol- 
diers their swords, scholars their culture, poets their 
songs, orators their eloquence for her Son's sake at 
her feet. And eyes w^ill bring their tears, and lips will 
bring their sighs and feet will bring their thorns, — 
and souls will bring their sorrows, and hearts will 
bring their anxieties, and hope will bring her fears 
and loye will bring her pangs to the feet of the queen 
for consolation and relief. The poverties and the royal- 
ties will walk side by side to her throne. Fame and 
failure will kneel together there like brothers. Learn- 
ing and ignorance with interclasped hands will bow 
before her throne. The aged bishop and the bright 
young altar-boy will bend before her as equals. The 
veiled nun and the broken-hearted penitent will mingle 
their voices in one chord before her. All these varie- 
ties there become unity. 

All these differences before her throne become a 
harmony. Ah — it is only at the feet of Jesus Christ 
and at the feet of His Mother that all this world's 
inequalities are transformed into a marvellous equality. 

Listen in the evening time and you hear the sound 
of the blessed beads all around the earth as they pass 
through the fingers that touch them as gently as if 
every bead was a rose ; — and the Eosary in its form of 
chain is not a symbol of slavery but a most beautiful 
sign of the perfect equality of all the children of God. 



THE STAR IK THE EAST. 153 

In the hands of the Supreme Pontiff and in the 
hands of the aged negro; in the hands of an Em- 
press and in the hands of the poor, unlettered 
negro girl, — the same sign. Those beads — those Hail 
Mary's equalize us all and how ? Why they lift lu up 
above this world and they place us on the very same 
lofty plane of prayer. Blessed Beads! beautiful Hail 
Mary's ! Ah the while you crown all the children of 
thy Son with a beautiful spiritual equality, — you chain 
ns to His throne with better than golden chains. 

And better than the gold of the Wise Men is the 
gold of every bead, and sweeter than the frankincense 
brought from the East is the precious incense of each 
Hail Mary. 

Let the star of love of Jesus and Ma-y shine every 
day in the sky of our souls, — beckoning us to come to 
the place where the King is resting;—- let us bring our 
beads as our gifts and we shall be sure to find, as the 
Wise Men did, Him with His Mother. They were told 
in dream to go back home by another way; — for the 
cruel and dangerous Herod was plotting against the 
Child. So from God's temple whither we bring our 
Eosaries as gifts, — we will always return home another 
way, with happier souls and more of grace in them 
and thus escape the spiritual snares which the Herod's 
of our passions are always planning in our hearts. 
The star that led the Magi to the Christ crib has dis- 
appeared. But ah! another star hath taken its place,— 
shining forever in the heavens of Faith; Mary herself, 
with brightness ever increasing. Star of hope shed 
thy purest rays on the shadows that oftimes gather 
around us, and we shall like the Wise Men, but with 
wisdom higher than theirs, follow thy guidance and 



154 A CEOWK FOR OVR QUEEIT. 

find the sweet Saviour whom tliey founJ a few years 
here below at the altars of Faith — but in heaven on 
His throne of glory. 



Aspiration. 

"We have seen His star in the East and have come 
with gifts to adore Him." — Missal. 

Prayer. 

God, who on this day by the leading of a star 
didst reveal thine only-begotten Son to the Gentiles ; 
mercifully grant, that we who know thee now by 
faith may be brought to contemplate the beauty of 
thy majesty. 




EIGHTEENTH DA T. 



"^U g\mtx 0f iU f urificnti^n. 



"Now dost thou dismiss thy servant, O Lord, according* to thy 
word, in peace. Because mine eyes have seen thy salvation. "Which 
thou hast prepared "before the face of all peoples. A lig"ht to the 
revelation of the Gentiles, and the glory of thy paople Israel."— 
Luke^ ii. 

Forty days after the birth of Jesus, His blessed 
Mother accompanied by Joseph went up to the Temple 
for her purification and His presentation. 

Sinless as Mary v/as there was no real need for her 
compliance with the ceremony of purification as there 
had bean no need of our Lord's subjecting himself to 
the rite of circumcision. They complied with the 
requirements of the law in order to leave us an example 
of obedience. And besides the mystery of her Mother- 
hood and the divinity of the child were in this way 
to remain unrevealed. Mary the child of the Temple 
re-enters its gates a Virgin Mother bearing in her 
arms the everlasting God. Joseph carried the turtle 
doves as humble offerings. Never had God received 
such homage in heaven or on earth as when Mary 
presented her child in the Temple. It was an infi- 
nite offering and the little Christ gave to His Father 
in that hour infinite homage. 

Into the Temple, by the inspiration of the Holy 
Spirit came the aged Simeon, a just man and devout, 
" who had been waiting for the consolation of Israel.'' 

(155) 



156 A CHOWX PO]^ OUK QUEEH. 

For it had been revealed to him that before death he 
v/ould see with his own eyes the Lord's Christ. Mary 
he had known in the days of her childhood. He had 
been present at her presentation. A great joy filled 
his aged heart. He took the child in his trembling 
arms, and blest God. And then his voice arose in 
song: "Now thou dost dismiss thy servant, Lord, 
according to thy word in peace. Because my eyes 
have seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared 
before the face of all peoples : A light to the revela- 
tion of the gentiles, and tlie glory of thy people Israel." 
Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary the Mother : 
"Behold this child is set up for the ruin and resur- 
rection of many in Israel and for a sign that shall be 
contradicted; and thy own soul a sword shall pierce 
that out of many hearts thoughts may be revealed.'^ 
Simeon read in prophetic vision the whole future his- 
tory of the child and he tells it to the Mother; for 
she is to be involved in it, — to be part and portion of 
it. Anna the prophetess, also entered the Temple and 
gave thanks to the Lord. There were listeners in the 
Temple, — but they did not understand Simeon's song 
and prophecy and Anna's blessing. The wondrous 
beauty of the young mother, the resemblance between 
her face and that of the child a-nestling in her arms, 
the gentleness of Joseph; — all this attracted their 
attention; but though they were almost touching the 
mystery of mysteries they knew it not. How often 
we are face to face with the supernatural and it passes 
us by unheeded? Are we not surrounded by mys- 
teries, sacraments, facts above nature filling all hours 
and somehow we seem blind to their presence. Are 
we not dwelling in the awful every-whereness of God 



THE FLOWER OF THE PUIIIFICATIO:^'. 15? 

from first to last of life half-the-while heedless of the 
mystery. 

So they in the Temple, — the lookers-on in the day 
of Mary's purification and Christ's presentation stood 
in the shadow of the supernatural; — but they went 
their ways merely passing wondering remarks upon 
Mary and Joseph and the child. 

And Mary went her way; — the sharp point of the 
sword of sorrow entering her heart; but as day follows 
day it will sink in deeper until her soul shall be trans- 
fixed with sorrow. 

The Mother of the victim must also be a victim. 
'* The Man of sorrow" must have a mother of sorrow. 
Few the joys of their lives, — but countless and intense 
the pangs 

She saw, in spirit, every footstep of Christ until the 
nailing of the feet on Calvary. 

No wonder that the sorrowful hasten to the Mother 
of sorrows ! She can compassionate sorrow's every pang 
because she suffered them all. 

And where the Mother of sorrow is with her will be 
found the Man of Sorrov/s; — Mother and child together. 
Seven great mysteries of sorrow divide the days of her 
life. 

The world worships joy,^goe3 forth to meet it, wel- 
comes it, — walks in its light; — but flies or tries to fly 
from grief. And yet after all that earth-joy is vain, 
fleeting and unsatisfying. A ghost of grief haunts the 
footsteps of every joy. 

Only spiritual joys can satisfy the soul, — ^joys that 
spring from prayers, graces, sacraments, obediences to 
God's laws. And these fill the heart with that holy 
peace which tliis world can neither give nor take away. 

14 



158 A CROWK POR OUR QUEEiT. 

For such souls beside the greatest earthly sorrows 
the highest spiritual joys can be found interclasping 
one another. Sorrow was to be one of the most power- 
ful elements in the holiness of the Blessed Virgin. 
Eemember that from the moment of her immaculate 
conception on up until the moment of her death, her 
life was ascensional. Every moment she rose higher 
in sanctity. Her graces and merits were constantly 
a-multiplying ; until she reached heights to no other 
creature accessible and though finite manifested, more 
than all other beings combined, the awful sanctity of 
God himself. 

As towards all other creatures her holiness was and 
is incommunicable. No being ever bore the image and 
likeness of God as Mary did and does now in heaven. 
We are His images but imperfect. But in Mary the 
divine image is perfectly mirrored. Omnipotence can- 
not create a more perfect spiritual work. And the sign 
of that spiritual work is sorrow. Her life before Cal- 
vary was a martyrdom of suspense and fear and expec- 
tation. Her martyrdom on Cj,lvary is only surpassed 
by that of her Saviour-son. And after Calvary she 
suffered the martyrdom of waiting. And always in 
perfect conformity to the will of God. 

Sweet is the spiritual fragrance of the flower of the 
purification. It is a mingling of obedience to the 
law — of joy in presenting such a child, God's own 
equal, to God himself and of sorrow for His fore- 
told sufferings. 

On the second day of February, Holy Church who 
is also a virgin mother, keeps the feast of Mary's puri- 
fication. But all the days of all the years our beau- 
tiful Church holds festivals of Purification. The Bride 



THE FLOWER €>F THE PUKIFICATIOiq'. 159 

of the Lamb forever, her mission is to purify the world 
of error and sin. The gates of her temples are ever 
open that those who may need to bo purified may enter 
and be cleansed. The ceremony of purification never 
ceases. At the baptismal font, — from the pulpit, in 
the confessional, on the altar the purifying power is 
always active. 

Blessed are they who needing to be purified come 
in imitation of Mary, who, though not in need of it 
went up to the Temple in obedience to the law. And 
then to each of us the Saviour with the gentleness of 
a child and the mercy of a God will ba presented. 
Onc3 she presented Him to the Father; — ^but now 
her love is to present Him to sinners in the hours of 
their purification. 



AspiRATio:^'. 

" We have received thy mercy, God, in the midst 
of thy temple : according to thy name, God, so also 
is thy praise, unto the ends of the earth : thy right 
hand is full of justice." — Psalm, xlvii. 

" Great is the Lord, and exceedingly to be praised : 
in the city of our God, in his holy mountain." — Ihid. 

Prayer. 

Almighty everliving God, we humbly beseech thy 
Majesty, that as thine only-begotten Son was this day 
presented in the temple in the substance of our flesh ; 
so we also may, with purified hearts, be presented unto 
thee. 



NINETEENTH DA 7. 



dilu (^l0ivcv of ^tuxxow^ mu\ f oij. 



*' And it came to pass, that after three days they found him in the 
temple sitting" in the midst of the doctors, hearing them and asking 
them questions. And all that heard him were astonished at his 
wisdom and his answers. And seeing hi77i they wondered. And 
his mother said to him; Son, why hast thou done so to us? behold, 
thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing."— i/wA;^, ii. 

Jesus was twelve years of age. The Paschal feast 
was approaching. With Mary and Joseph, — and tra- 
dition says on foot, — Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 
Though God and not bound by law, He was a Hebrew 
and strictly observed the law. What a lesson this to 
Christians. 

They reached the Holy City and performed all things 
according to the ordinances. 

Between Joseph and Mary in His own Temple Jesus 
knelt down to pray. God on earth in the form of a 
beautiful boy prays to God in heaven. What a mys- 
tery! Too deep for words. The feast closed. And 
not one in all those multitudes that thronged the 
Temple knew that in their midst moved the feet of 
Him who had come to bring salvation. The Feast 
closed. In the afternoon the worshipers left the city. 
The men passed out through one gate and the women 
through another to meet again at night-fall. During 
this afternoon's journey Joseph and Mary were sepa- 

(100) 



THE FLOWER OF SORROW AlTD JOY. 161 

rated. When they met at the closing of the day where 
was the child Jesus ? With neither. 

And a great fear came on Joseph and Mary's heart 
was filled with a strange terror. Jesus was gone. 
Whither? The Boy was lost. How and why? How 
the mystery of His sudden disappearance filled their 
souls with darkness. Just this morning beside them 
in the Temple, — so fair, so beauteous, with the very 
light of heaven in His face to their eyes, — and now 
gone. He had given no sign. He had said no word. 
He had let them leave the Temple and the city with- 
out Him and without a warning. It was so unlike 
Him. They turned their faces towards the Holy City. 
Night came on; but a darker night fell on their souls. 
Fear and love gave strength to their weary feet. It 
was very dark. Did Mary think of the Christmas 
night and its angels when He came to the world? 
No angels to night and no Gloria of joy. Only a dumb, 
desolate sorrow. It was the first time she was without 
Him. How they hurried back! Her heart was cry- 
ing out for her lost child. On the still night air 
trembled the mother's prayers. The stars shone on 
the tears that flowed from her grief-filled eyes. 

For the waves of a starless sea of sorrow swept 
stormily over her soul. Ah! mothers with lost children 
have known griefs similar but never equal to her's. 
For never a mother had a son like her's. In the dark 
they reach the city and in the dark they enter it. 
Where did they spend the rest of that desolate night ? 
Did they go straight to the vestibule of the Temple 
to wait till the morning would open its gates? Or 
did they wander up and down the narrow streets seek- 
ing in the dark for Him whb was their only light? 



162 A CROWi^ FOR OUR quee:m. 

Dawn m the East and the Temple doors were opened, 
lie was not there. Where had He gone? Had He 
gone out to Calvary and spent the night amid its gray 
rocks ? The weary search went on. They made in- 
quiries of those they met. And how Mary could de- 
scribe her child ? But no one had seen Him. Another 
day's search but all in vain. Dawned the third day^ 
Was it an inspiration or was it only the presentiment 
of a mother's heart that turned their steps towards the 
Temple? 

* * ^ jk That day the teachers of the law were 
assembled. The Scriptures were in their hands. They 
were reading and expounding the Law and the Prophets. 
Suddenly into their midst came a boy fair to look upon 
with something of more than human beauty in His 
face. It was unusual for a child thus to come amid 
their deliberations. But somehow His coming did not 
seem an intrusion. It was as if He had a right to be 
there. In their midst He stood listening to them and 
asking them questions. They wondered at His wisdom 
and His answers. The promised Messiah of forty cen- 
turies, — twelve years of age, — looked into their faces, — 
with His questions and His answers stirred their 
souls ; — and they, with the Scriptures in their hands, 
did not recognize Him. The Boy to them was only a 
wonder. An old Prophet had written His name would 
be called Wonderful. 

Will He now reveal Himself and show unto them 
that the V/onder in their midst is their very God? 
No, — He must bide His time. 

A silence fell on the Assembly — one of those strange 
hushes that follow one mystery and precede another. 

Footsteps were heard approaching. 



THE FLOWER OF SORROAY AKD JOY. 163 

Swiftly to where the fair boy stood came Mary and 
Joseph. It was a second wonder. And the Teachers 
heard a voice Avith a mother's pathos in it while the 
light of joy shone on her face: "Son why hast thou 
done so to us: behold thy father and I have sought 
thee sorrowing ?'' The teachers knew the aged car- 
penter and they had not forgotten the face of Mary. 
The Boy and the Mother looked strangely alike. And 
the Boy spoke: "How is it that you sought Me: do 
you not know that I must be about my Father's busi- 
ness ? '^ Did the teachers think that the Boy was 
about Joseph's business, — for had not Mary said: "your 
Father and I sought thee ? '^ Yes the mystery is not 
yet to be revealed. Mary took the Boy's fair hand in 
hers and led Him from the Temple. Her sorrow had 
blossomed into joy. 

"And He went down with them and came to Naza- 
reth and was subject to them. And Jesus increased 
in wisdom, age and grace before God and man.'^ The 
sorrow of the three days brightened into the joys of 
eighteen years. Eighteen years more must the world 
wait for the Teacher. Why let the world v/ait ? Why 
give thirty years cf His life to His Mother and only 
three years to the world ? 

Why this seclusion in Nazareth ? Wliy the silence 
unbroken by a word to the world resting on those eigh- 
teen years? The communings of mother and child 
are not for the world. They are sacred and secret. 
Thrice only in public and in the hearing of others 
He addressed His Mother, — in the Temple where she 
found Him,— at the wedding feast in Cana and on 
Mount Calvary. 
. But the words that passed between them at home 



164 A CROWK FOR OUR QUEEK, 

have been buried in a silence which not one inspired 
writer has inyaded. 

But ah ! the constant interchange of thought between 
Jesus and Mary during those eighteen years must be 
full of the mysteries of human and divine love! How 
her soul must have been filled with the light of those 
mysteries which we see only in shadow! It is again 
for years and years mother and child. Nazareth is 
more than a city, — it is an argument. Of what? Of 
the indissoluble bond between Jesus and Mary. And 
of what else ? He was subject to her. He obeyed her. 
lie acknowledged all her rights and powers as His 
Mother and fulfilled all His duties towards her as 
her son. 

Has He ever annulled His Mother's rights ? When ? — 
Once a mother, — a mother forever. He must break 
the birth-bond, — He must sunder the blood tie before 
He can compel His Mother to abdicate her rights. He 
must go against the face of the eternal decree by which 
He elected to become Mary's child. 

Has He ever taken away her power? Why and 
how? Did He ever reach an hour in His life here 
below, — or has He reached an hour in His glorified 
life in heaven when to her, who said: "Be it done 
unto me according to thy word:" He has said or could 
say: "'What you my Mother ask will not be done 
according to thy word?" No— no, — the rights, the 
powers, the privileges of her who is the Mother of the 
Eternal King will last as long as He reigns. He has 
never emancipated Himself from the sceptre of His 
Mother's love. He was subject to her in the earthly 
Nazareth, — and because her will is perfectly united to 
the divine will, He is still subject to her in the heavenly 
Nazareth. ^ ^ ^ ^ 



THE FLOWER OE SORROW AKD JOY. 165 

So sweetly — peacefully and silence-veiled went on 
the days at N"azaretli. In the city there was a syna- 
gogue. There on every Sabbath day knelt the Holy 
Family in prayer. The Christ in silence listened to 
the readings of the Scriptures ; and never did human 
soul feel such reverence for the divine word as did 
His. He was in their midst and they knew Him only 
as the aged carpenter's son. On other days He worked 
for Joseph was growing feeble. Came a day when 
Joseph was missed in the synagogue. Only Jesus and 
Mary came. And so for Sabbath after Sabbath. It 
was in the order of Providence that the Foster-father 
should pass away fromx earth before his Foster-son 
would face the world. It came at last. Did the 
Foster-Son anticipate the time a.nd baptize with Chris- 
tian Baptism the last and greatest Hebrew patriarch ? 

In the arms of Jesus and Mary he calmly died. 

Ah ! what a death ! They laid him away with his 
fathers, — and now Jesus and Mary were alone. Their 
hearts grew closer together. Every day He entered 
the little shop to toil for His Mother's support. Once 
she fed Him. N"ow He feeds her. Often a great fear 
crept into her heart and whitened her all pure face; — 
for she knew the day of separation was coming fast. 

It came a day of deepest human sorrow to Jesus 
as well as to Mary. Ah ! love wants the face of the 
loved one to look on. It is so in the glorious heavens 
where the face of God will be an eternal need eternally 
gratified. It is so in this sorrowful world where hearts, 
though they know and are happy to know that they 
love one another, still want one another's face, and 
still want to hear the tones of one another's voice. 
Their loves are not going to part, — that she knows, — 



166 A CROWK FOR OUR QUEEH. 

but He is going to take His face away — the face that 
has been her heaven of human joy for thirty long 
years. Did Mary's Son kneel down to get His Mother's 
blessing before He went out alone into tlie world H 
For alone He must go to do His mighty work. Or 
did He ask her consent to go forth and die for the 
world? Asked or not asked she gave it. 

Three years, — awful years for Him with Calvary at 
the close. The moment came. Mother and Son em- 
braced. They were human and they wept. He turned 
away from peaceful Nazareth Avith His face towards 
the Jordan. Mary entered her humble home. What 
passed there only angels knew. It was like an agony 
that separation. Ah Mary! your Jesus is truly lost to 
you now, — but it must be so because He is going to 
save the lost. Did angels come to comfort her ? 

Wheal after a while He will preach to the people, — 
to His Father in heaven will be ascending from Mary 
in far o3F Nazareth the mightiest prayers that ever 
heaven heard. For her prayers had part in His three 
years ministry. 

Jesus preaching, — Mary, praying— ah me ! how could 
men resist? Oh! Mary crowned in heaven! pray for 
us with the heart of a Mother and the power of a 
Queen that we may never resist the graces sent us by 
thy Son. 

Aspiration. 

"Send forth thy light and thy truth: they have 
conducted me, and brought me unto thy holy hill, 
and into thy tabernacles. And I will go in to the altar 
of God: to God who giveth joy to my youth.'' — Psalm, 
xlii. 



the flower of sorrow and joy. 167 

Prayer, 

Grant, we beseech thee, Lord, that both the 
course of the world may be peaceably ordered for us 
by thy governance, and that thy Church may rejoice 
in tranquil devotion. 




TWENTIETH DA T. 



"^U Smtx at i\xt "WuUins-Un^t 



*'His Mother said to the waiters: Whatsoever he shall say to you,— 
do J Q.''— Luke ii, 5. 

Jesus went down to the Jordan and was baptized 
by His cousin John the Baptist. Then lie went into 
the desert; fasted forty days, was tempted by the devil; 
bade him begone, — and he went; returned from the 
desert; called a few disciples who followed Him ; began 
to teach in the synagogues and was followed by many ; 
and at last came to Nazareth. What a meeting it 
must have been when He entered His Mother's home. 
How soon He returns to her! He had a reason. 
There is nothing accidental in His life. His mother 
has a work to do before He separates Himself from 
her only to meet agani on Calvary. Three days 
after the calling of His first disciples "there was a 
marriage in Cana" (not far from Nazareth) *^and," 
writes St. John, "the mother of Jesus was there." 
And Jesus was invited with His disciples to the 
marriage. Mary, who perhaps presided at tlie feast, 
saw, with a woman's quick intuition, that wine was 
wanting; and said to Jesus: "They have no wine." 
Simple words, — but strange. Had she ever seen Him 
exercise His omnipotent power? In the flight to 
Egypt and return had He procured, out in the bleak 
desert, food and drink for her and Joseph, by the use 

(1G8; 



THE FLOWER OF THE WEDDIKG-FEAST. 169 

of divine power ? Her request almost implies as much. 
And if not, she knew her Son was God. Just as 
strange was His reply: "Woman, what have I to do 
Avith thee : My hour is not yet come.'' It seemed like 
a harsh refusal softened only by the reason He gave. 
His hour had not yet come. But the mother knew 
her Son better than the guests. Mayhap some said: 
''He has refused her." She said to the servants: 
"Whatsoever He saith unto you, do ye.'' There were 
six water-pots of stone ; and Jesus said to the servants : 
" Fill the water-pots with water." And they did so. 
And He said : " Draw out now and bring to the ruler 
of the feast." And they obeyed. The ruler of the 
feast tasted the water made wine ; — so did the guests ; — 
and a great wonder filled the room. St. John writes : 
" This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of 
Galilee, and manifested His glory and His disciples 
believed in Him." They had listened . to the glory 
of His words, — for no man spake as He; and had fol- 
lowed Him. Now manifest to them is the glory of 
His power— and they believe in Him. Yes, — there was 
a reason why His mother should be present at the 
feast. She had brought Him into this world by 
miracle. She had given Him that body which en- 
shrined omnipotence and it was but right and fitting 
that the first exercise of His power should be at her 
request. Through her the humility of the God-man 
was first manifested in Bethlehem; and through her 
the glory of the Man-God, in the beginning of His 
ministry, is first made manifest at the wedding feast 
of Cana. But said He not: "My time is not yet 
come ? " And at His mother's simple words : " They 
have no wine " He anticipates His time, works His 

15 



170 A CROWK POR OUU QUEEin", 

first miracle, — shows His power, — displays His glory — 
and now His disciples belieye in Him. To be the 
cause of the manifestation of His glory is glorious 
enough : — Oh Mary ! but most glorious is it to have 
been the cause of that first faith which began that 
day in Oana in the souls of the first few disciples and 
which will last strong and unshaken as long as this 
world shall exist! Yes— Mary the Mother of Christ 
is the mother of the first faith in Him; — and that faith 
like Mary — will be always a virgin pure from any 
stain of error ; — and always a mother bringing forth m 
every age innumerable children, down to the consum- 
mation of the world. Yes indeed there was a reason, — 
and more than one, why Jesus should meet His mother 
at the feast. It was a marriage feast. Marriage is 
the appointed means whereby our race is perpetuated. 
Marriage must be holy, and to be so, — must have God's 
blessing, — and to have it, husband and wife must love 
one another and have reverence for one another's body. 
Else marriage loses its purity. That lost, — marriage 
sinks into degradation. Mary the great Mother of 
Christ and of His posterity was there as a model for 
all mothers. Mary the Virgin was there in all the 
glory of her purity to signify that purity should guard 
motherhood. The lav/s of human generation are sacred. 
Mary is present at the feast held in honor of those 
laws to attest their sacredness. Ah ! how those laws 
are dishonored ! And then ? Unhappiness. And 
then? How of ten infidelity ? And then? How often 
divorce? Why dishonored? Jesus and His mother 
were not at the wedding feast. The world was there 
with its congratulations. Fashion was there with its 
finery. But grace was absent. No wonder there are 



THE FLOWER OF THE WEDDING-FEAST. 171 

SO many miserable marriages ! No wonder that fretful 
husbands and complaining wives are met with every- 
where and every day ! They have missed their wedding- 
blessmg or they have lost it and are not willing to 
strive by prayer and sacraments to win it back again. 
Nor need we marvel that this tells on the children, 
disturbs society, sometimes dishonors the Church and 
leads to ills temporal and spiritual beyond all reckon- 
ing. In the pastorals of nearly all the Bishops the 
question of marriage holds a prominent place. They 
are not only teachers of truth but they are the guard- 
ians of the sacraments. Faith without the sacraments 
is a sky without the sun. The Bishops of the Church 
see that as the world is drifting farther and farther 
away from the safe moorings of Christ's teachings, — 
no sacrament is in greater peril of losing its sanctities 
by moral shipwreck in society than that of matrimony. 
Entered into too hastily, — a matter of mere human love 
and sometimes alas! human passion, without the prep- 
aration of prayer and the presence of supernatural 
grace, — marriage is losing its sacredness among the 
married. 

The honor of the faith is often yielded and the laws 
of Holy Church transgressed in mixed marriages. The 
children of the same faith should marry together with- 
out seeking, and then only for gravest reasons, outside 
connections. 

Over the order of human generation Jesus and Mary 
must preside that it may have heaven's blessing. 

But let us ascend to the order of regeneration where 
grace reigns over souls. 

In that order the feast is everlasting and Jesus with 
His mother presides. Every holy thought, — every pious 



172 A CROWK FOR OUR QUEEI^. 

desire, every fervent prayer, — every act done for eter- 
nity, — every sacrament received and all the other count- 
less things that go to make up the supernatural life 
have relations to Jesus and His Mother. Where He 
is, — she is as we]l; He with His saving mercy, she with 
her mother-love. In every feast of grace in our souls 
Jesus and Mary meet. 

Oh Mary Queen of heaven pray that sin may never 
enter our souls to cast a shadow on those sweet interior 
feasts we keep when Jesus comes in all His love to 
sanctify them more; and we know He will bring a 
mother's blessing with Him. 



AspiRATio:^,, 
^'Soi^! they have no wine." 

Prayer. 

Favorably hear our supplications, Lord, and gra- 
ciously protect thy institution Avhich thou hast ordained 
for the propagation of mankind: that the union made 
by thy appointment may be preserved by thy aid. 



TWENTY-FIRST DAY. 



%%.t ^\mn 0f W^n^^ "^^x^xi^m,^ 



FIRST PART. 



*'And thy own heart a sword shall Dlerce that out of many hearts 
thoughts may he revealed."— iwAe ii, 35. 

Amid the splendors of the Transfiguration of Jesus 
on Mount Thabor, Peter loth to leave the place, cried 
out in the rapture of his heart: '^Oh Lord! it is good 
for us to be here!" Thabor was a Calvary in the 
Light. Calvary is a Thabor in the Dark. And loth to 
leave the mount of mercy, — as He hung on the cross 
three long hours, let us linger three days amid its 
mysteries that v/e may learn more (we never can learn 
all) of the relations of the Mother of Jesus with His 
Passion and our Eedemption. Two souls were never 
more united than theirs on Calvary. Two sorrows 
v/ere never more as one. That union lasted not only 
during those three hours that passed on Calvary. It 
lasts forever; for the Passion, at which Mary was not 
only a spectator but in which as His Mother she was an 
actor, — is eternal. She had given Him that sacred flesh 
which was bruised, — that blood which was shed, — that 
form v/hich was nailed to the cross. The drops of His 
precious blood that redden the rocks had their far- 
off sinless fount in the heart of Mary. They began 
to flow from her heart on the day of the Annuncia- 

15* (173) 



174 A CROWi^ FOR OUR QUEEi^. 

tion, — nine months invisibly till Christmas niglit 
came and the Child was born. Then for months He 
was nursed on her sinless breast and drew the nourish- 
ment of His life from her sinless body. The bloiJ 
was hers no longer. It was His only each drop of it 
united to Divinity. But still in the beginning it had 
been hers — and what she gave Him, He gave us for 
our Eedemption. He w\is her's before He became 
ours. He became our Saviour as her son as man as 
really in the temporal order as he was in the eternal 
order Son of the Father. 

From His Mother He received that human life in 
human body, wliich He laid down for our salvation. 
That body, in the eternal decrees, was necessary for 
our Eedemption. From the Eternal Father, by eter- 
nal generation, He received (if we can use that word 
for lack of another) His divinity which made the 
reparation, wrought through His body, of infinite value. 
So in the decrees of God Mary was as necessary to 
the human part of the Passion as was the Father to 
the divine part. Now the divine and human elements 
of the Passion are eternal in their effects; and there- 
fore Mary His Mother has part in every effect that 
flows from the Passion. The history of Christianity 
is the continuation of the Passion. Christian life finds 
its roots in His death ; — >two roots,— one in the human 
soul and bod}^ — the other in His Divinity. The body 
to His human soul united comes from Mary, — His 
Divinity, from the Father. Therefore as His Father 
has,— as He has, — so Mary His Mother has part in 
every single effect of His Passion. Out of the Passion 
came the Church and the sacraments; and therefore 
His mother stands in everlasting relationship with the 



THE FLOWER OF MARY'S MARTYRDOM. 175 

sacraments and the Church. Every sanctification of 
soul, — every salvation of sinner, — every sanctity of 
saint flows from the Passion, and therefore intimately, 
inseparably, everlastingly related to the Passion, Mary 
is intimately, indissolubly, and forever connected with 
the work of the Passion in the soul of every saint and 
sinner. 

The action of the Church is the perpetuation of 
Christ's Passion. Therefore as in His Passion so in the 
action of the Church Mary holds by mother's right a 
necessary place, — and that place highest, next to His. 
She stands forever by the Cross and she stands for- 
ever within the Church. You can no more thrust her 
out of His Church than you could have thrust her 
away from the cross. You cannot take the cross and 
Him without taking her. They go together. They 
stay together. They do the grand work of this world's 
salvation together. "What God has placed together 
you cannot put asunder.'' 

Jesus alone is the Mediator. His Red3m_ption of 
us is infinite. Mary, sinless as she was, Avith all her 
merits could not have atoned for a single sin; could 
not have saved a single sinner. Christ's Infinite Ee- 
demption of sinners is as incommunicable as His Di- 
vinity. 

But do not the elect co-operate with Jesus in the 
Eedemption of the world ? Do they not, as St. Paul 
writes: "fill up in their bodies that which is lacking 
of the suflerings of Christ, for His body's sake, which 
is the Church?'' And this co-operation is real and 
substantial. By His merits have they not acquired 
the power of meriting? Do not their works satisfy 
for sins not only for their own sins but for the lesser 



176 A CBOWK POR OUR QUEEI?-, 

sins of others, by their union with His ? But the co- 
operation of all the saints together does not and can- 
not equal the co-operation of Mary. 

Their co-operation is but a shadow compared to 
her's. For her co-operation is based upon her Divine 
Maternity; and that, in God's decrees, was indispens- 
able. The consent which she gave to the Incarnation 
involved her consent to the Passion. Her will was in 
it all as well as God's will. Her will is in it still 
and will be in it forever. So that in a limited, finita 
sense we may well and accurately call Mary, His 
Mother CO'Eedemptress. For without her we would 
not have had Him as our Eedeemer. It could have 
been otherwise if God had willed it otherwise in eter- 
nity. He did not so will it. Therefore it is us it is 
and can never be otherwise than as it is. It was God's 
free decree. It was realized. Mary is an essential 
part of that realization; — and remains so forever. — 
Why, — did He not say it: "My words shall never pass 
away?" And they have not and never shall. Is not 
Mary mother of the Word made flesh greater than the 
words that fell from His lips? Can she ever pass 
away out of the sight of Faith ? Does not Faith 
demand her everlasting presence as mother to believe 
and prove that God was man, — man, because, her own 
son ? Is not His mother greater than His words ? 
Why? — she gave Him the very lips that spoke the 
words? "Never man spake as He" — His very ene- 
mies said. And that man was her own and only Son. 
His words will go down the ages full of grace and 
truth and light and spiritual life; — and tell me! must 
the mother who gave Him the lips to speak salvation 
to all ages retire into the background of history,— to 



THE FLOWER OF MAEY'S MAUTYKDOM. 177 

become a mere beautiful memory, — nothing but a 
name ? No — no, — as she stood by the cross for three 
hours the mother of the Crucified she must stand by 
His words forever the mother of the Teacher of men. 
His words are human as His form on the cross was 
human. His mother proves the humanity of that cru- 
cified form and His Mother proves the humanity (if I can 
so write) of His undying words. His human words are 
like His human body. It shrined a divine person. 
They shrine divine thoughts. The body, with its 
human soul and human lips to speak human words 
enshrining divine thoughts, came from Mary His 
Mother. Wherever His words go,— she goes. She is 
more than a memory, — more than a name. She is 
the mother of His words as well as of Himself. For 
their human tone they lean on her, for their divine 
teachings they lean solely on Him. 

The words of the Word-made-Flesh need His mother 
in person to prove that they are human words as well 
as they need Himself in person to prove that they are 
words divine. So therefore, the invisible presences of 
Jesus and His Mother are justly demanded by the 
eyes of Faith, as witnesses of His human-divine words 
wherever they are preached. She witnessed the cruci- 
fixion; and she must witness forever the preaching of 
"Jesus Christ and Him Crucified.'* 

Now listen ! all ye who preach His name and words ! 

Do you give His Mother her rightful and necessary 
place ? Do you take His words into your pulpits and 
bid His Mother stay outside the doors of your churches ? 
Do you preach "Christ and Him Crucified" without 
saying a word of her, the witness of His Passion ? Do 
you preach the words of the Word-made-flesh and put the 



178 A CHOWIiT POU OUE QUEEK. 

Motherof that Wordlnearnate aside? Then surelyisyour 
preaching false,— false to Him because false to her,— false 
to both, because false to the yery Scriptures in your 
pulpits. It is a wonder that the caliUp sweet words of 
Holy-writ on Scripture's pages do not frown upon you in 
wrath! Have you not read in the closing of God's 
Eevelationc : "And if any man shall take away from 
the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take 
away his part out of the book of life and out of the 
holy city?" 

And if you take away any of the words of the Book 
• — by thrusting aside His Mother, — it is more than 
taking away words^ — it is an offence against Christ 
Himself personally, — it is a crime against the Word- 
made-flesh who came to dwell forever amongst us as 
God — Son of the Eternal Father, — as Man, — Son of 
Mary, His Mother, — for wheresoever He, through His 
representatives witnesseth to the Truth she must witness 
to the Truth of truths that He is man because He is 
her Son. 

Representatives did I say ? His true representatives 
must represent Him and His Mother forever and ever 
working together for man's salvation. 

Alas ! there are Maryless, Motherless Churches (so- 
called.) They will have nothing to do with her, — 
though from her they receive their Christ. Christ was 
not Motherless. His true Church — made to His like- 
ness, cannot be Motherless. His Mother is her Mother, 
for her Son is the head of the Church. Oh! holy 
Church! re-living the life of Jesus; — clothed with His 
sanctities,— enshrining His everlasting Presence, — pos- 
sessing His powers,— infallible witness of His truths, — 
executor of His will ; thou hast not forgotten His last 



THE FLOWEB OF MARY'S I^AETYRDOM; 179 

legacy on Calvary to His well-beloyed disciples s "Be- 
hold thy Mother ! " AVherever thou goest and wherever 
thou preachest '^ Christ and Him Crucified,'^ thou dost 
keep forever in the sight of true Faith the Mother 
who " stood beside the Cross." Thou dost frame the 
Name of Jesus in the name of Mary as he was fash- 
ioned in her sinless womb. Thou art true to Calvary 
and its Passion ; — thou art true to the Son and true to 
the Mother; — and wherever thou goest — "Jesus and 
Mary," — "Mary and Jesus," are sounded by thy lips 
together and forever, — an everlasting hymn of only 
two notes of only two names — telling the true and full 
story of Man's redemption. 



ASPIRATIOiq', 

"Be it done unto me according to thy will." 

Peayer. 

God, in whose passion, according to the prophecy 
of Simeon, a sword of grief pierced through the most 
sweet soul of thy glorious virgin mother Mary : merci- 
fully grant that we who celebrate the memory of her 
dolors may obtain the happy eflfect of thy passion. 



TWENTY-SECOND DAT. 



M^ gkmx 0f Pita's P^tfjjr40m. 



SECOND PART. 



"When Jesus saw his Mother and the disciple standing, whom he 
loved,— he saith to his Mother: Woman,— behold thy Son."— Jo/wi xix, 26. 

The Three Years, on which all the years of human 
history lean and will forever lean for the light of truth, 
for grace divine and for salvation were coming to a 
close. The words that fell from the lips of Christ 
during those years shine still like heavenly stars above 
all the horizons of time. 

Palm Sunday came and passed with its Ilosannas. 
Monday and Tuesday he taught in the temple, re- 
turning to Bethany every evening. Ilis Mother was 
there. "Wednesday night he spent amid the hills alone 
in prayer. Thursday morning he returned to Bethany. 
He had asked her consent to His Incarnation. He 
comes to ask her consent to His Passion, — and to bid her 
farewell. He knelt to His Mother and begged her 
blessing. She refused to bless her God and fell on her 
knees to adore His Divinity. They both remained 
kneeling and at last each blessed the other. She had 
given her consent to the crucifixion. She had given her 
child away to the world. Unutterable human anguish 
filled her heart, — for by supernatural light she saw 
every single detail of the awful drama in which Christ 

(180) 



THE FLOWER OF MARY'S MARTYRDO:^. 18i 

was to be the victim. But above all the dark anguish, 
lile tho far calm sky above the storm-swept sea and 
angry clouds, her will was tranquil and her soul was 
full of such graces as she had never hnown before. She 
needed them all to meet her coming desolation. 

On Thursday night she was in Jerusalem. It was 
the Eucharistic night. Did she, in some way, receive 
her Son's body and blood to give her strength to bear 
the woes of Good Friday ? — Many think she did. Next 
morning came. Accused, tried, not convicted yet con- 
demned, scourged, crowned with thorns, accompanied 
by two malefactors, preceded by Eoman soldiers, sur- 
rounded by a savage crowd whose blasphemies rent 
and decorated the air, followed by an immense multi- 
tude, some wondering, — some pitying, some weeping but 
the most clamoring for His death, — Jesus went on His 
way through the streets to Calvary. John the Virgin 
and Magdalen the outcast stood by the Mother of the 
Son of God. The Apostles had fled. Jostled by the 
crowd Mary stood at the corner of a street by which her 
Son would pass. He saw her blue mantle. Their eyes 
met. Ah ! what a meeting! One moment, — but it was 
equal to an age of grief. Higher, darker surged the 
waves of sorrow in the Mother's soul. Grace held her 
up. The next moment Jesus fell under the weight of 
His cross and His Mother's sorrow. He rose again. 
More savage rose the clamors for His blood. They 
echoed and re-echoed through the streets of Jerusalem, — 
but ah ! they rang through Mary's heart and filled it 
with an agony like to His in Gethsemane. And she? 
She was praying for them all. John, Magdalen, Mary 
followed the multitudes. They crept up the slopes of 
Calvary. She saw it all, every detail of the av/ful cruci- 

16 



183 A CROWK POR OUR QUEEX. 

fixion. Her ears heard every stroke of the hammer 
driving in the nails. Christ was lilted up on the cross. 
No wonder the earth was shaken from centre to circum- 
ference, — appalled by the murder of its God by men, — 
and these, — men of His chosen race. But not only the 
sin-stained earth gave signs of terror; — in the sinless 
heavens there were portents of sorrow, — as if they knev/ 
and felt the infinite horror en Golgotha. Darkness 
came creeping over the hill;— growing deeper and 
deeper; — hushing the blasphemies on the lips of the 
rabble, who now filled with fear rushed away from the 
cross back to Jerusalem when they heard that strange 
and awful sounds had issued from the temple and that 
the veil in the temple had been rent in twain. 

In the darkness Mary and Magdalen and John came 
together to the cross. Mary and John stood. Mag- 
dalen crept to her old place, — crouched on the ground ; — 
kissed and kissed the nailed feet; — and mystery of 
mysteries I the tears of the forgiven outcast mingled 
with the blood of the Son of Go J. 

Silence came. Seven times was it broken by the 
dying Saviour. In a tone of infinite pathos rose from 
his lips: ^' Father forgive them for they know not what 
they do." Mary stood beside the cross calm in her 
illimitable woe; — making in her breaking heart an almost 
infinite act of almost infinite contrition for the mur- 
derers of her Son and for all sinners. Her silent act of 
contrition ascended to the Father blessed with the 
prayer of Jesus. But ah ! if sinners need a divine 
Saviour, — do they not need a human, sinless Mother? — 
Wait awhile. There is silence again. When she be- 
came His mother in Bethlehem thirty-three years ago, — 
it was in joy — in rapture, in ecstasy. His human nature 



THE FLOWER OF MARY'S MARTYRDOM. 183 

was sinless. But now she is to be made the Mother of 
all sinners on Calvary; she must suffer the penalty of 
such motherhood. She will be made their Mother Avhen 
her £oul and body are suffering agonizing throes beyond 
the reach of thought. When she has reached her 
closest union with her dying Son in the pangs of her 
compassion; — when His Passion and her compassion 
become almost as one, then shall her second motherhood 
be proclaimed to the world by the dying lips of the 
world's Eedeemer. Silence still. Poor Magdalen is 
weeping her very heart away — kissing now the nails as 
if to make them less cruel. The moment of the 
second maternity came. 

^' When Jesus therefore saw His Mother and the dis- 
ciple standing by whom He loved. He saith unto His 
Mother: ^ Woman, behold thy Son.' Then to the dis- 
ciple : ' Behold thy Mother.' " 

Ah ! what a transfer from Jesus to John ! Has He 
given His Mother away? Ye3. Has He abandoned 
Her ? No. He has given her away to those for whom 
He is giving away His life. He gives her away and still 
keeps her. How? The soul that takes Him must 
take her. The sinner that calls Him Saviour must call 
the Saviour's Mother his Mother. He gives Himself to 
sinners as their Saviour; — He gives her to sinners as 
their Mother. So Jesus and Mary are still together. 
From Bethlehem to Calvary together. From Cal- 
vary's Cross to heaven's crown together. The 
Mother of the Eedeemer is proclaimed by Christ, — 
Mother of the Eedeemed. The Mother of Christ is the 
Mother of Christians. John the Apostle, on Calvary, 
becomes the representative of all the posterity of Jesus 
Christ. Mark the Scripture words: ^'He said to the 



184 A CROW]sr FOR OUR QUEEK. 

beloved disciple: ^Behold thy Mother.'" On Calvary 
John represented all the beloved disciples of Jesus 
Christ in the Kingdom that was to last to the end of 
time. And therefore Mary, by Christ's appointment is 
made forever the Mother of His disciples. 

Ah! Cross of mercy eternal! wherever you are preached; 
— wherever you are planted, — wherever the sunshine of 
your salvation is cast ; — you are not true to the great 
Good Friday; — you are not true to Calvary — unless 
who so preaches or plants you still keeps Mary His 
Mother standing beside you. 

The scene on Calvary on that Good Friday is framed 
in every day and hour of time. On the Mount, the 
Cross, — on the cross Jesus Christ; beside the Cross; 
Mary His Mother. She must be there as part of the pic- 
ture. If not there, — the picture is false. K"o — no — if 
I go in in my sins and sorrows for pardon or comfort to 
the foot of the Cross of Christ, I find kneeling there a 
sinner like myself the Magdalen ; and I find standing 
there Mary His Mother. Can I thrust her aside? 
No — no. It is her place to stand there not only for the 
three hours in visible form,~but to the eyes of faith 
forever. 

To the eyes of Faith, Magdalen the sinner has her 
arms around the foot of the Cross forever. 

To the eyes of Faith the well-beloved of Christ, repre- 
sentative of His disciples, stands beside his and our 
Mother. For Good Friday lasts forever. No after day 
has gone back to it; but it has come to every day of 
time bringing the Cross and the Christ and the Mother, 
and the penitent sinner. Will you take the Cross 
and Him — and reject her? Do not the deepest 
meanings of God's eternal decrees gather around 



THE FiOWER OP MARy's MARTYRDOM. 185 

the Cross on Calvary? Did Mary stand there for 
nothing? Were her presence and even her posture 
there meaningless ? Who will dare to say so ? Were 
His words to her and John without meaning? John 
would care for her anyhow, — and the Apostles. When 
He said to His Mother: "Behold thy son:" could He 
have meant ib literally ? No. A literal meaning is 
nonsense. John was not her son. What else could 
He mean ? Why : His words on Calvary are as wide and 
deep as His work of mercy on Calvary. They reach 
beyond that hill and that day, — and the spiritual mean- 
ing of the worJs He spoke will last as long as the work 
of mercy He accomplished. When to John He said: 
"Behold thy Mother:" what did He mean? Only 
John ? She was not John's mother. Taken in literal 
sense His last dying words would be false. Who will 
dare say so? What then did He mean ? He meant it 
in a spiritual or mystical sense. As He is mystical Head 
of the Church, — she is the mystical Mother of all the 
members of the Church. Why ? — We are brothers of 
Christ; — He was her Son ; and therefore we are her spir- 
itual children. 

In Bethlehem in joy she became the Mother of the 
Redeemer. On Calvary in the throes of sorrow she be- 
came the Mother of the Eedeemed. 

Oh ! Mother of our Kedeemer ! look down upon us 
from thy throne in heaven ; and as thou didst follow thy 
own adorable Son from His birth even unto His death; 
guide us thy children through every day of our lives; 
and as thou didst stand at the foot of thy Son's Cross, 
in the hour of His death, be with us m our last hour 
when we shall commend our spirit into the hands of 
our eternal Father. 

16* 



186 a crowk for our queeii?'. 

Aspiration. 
^•' Great as the sea is my sorrow/^ 

Prayer. 

God, at whose passion, according to the prophecy 
of Simeon, a sword of sorrow did pierce through the 
most sweet soul of the glorious Virgin and Mother 
Mary; mercifully grant that we, who devoutly celebrate 
her transfixion and suffering, may, through the media- 
tion of the glorious merits and prayers of all the saints 
who faithfully stand beneath the cross, obtain the 
blessed fruit of thy passion^ 




TWENTY-TEIRD DAY. 



%%,t ^U\Kzt t^t P^ytj'^' P^vtat40m» 



THIRD PART. 



"After that he saith to his disciple : Behold thy Mother. And from 
that hour the disciple took her to his own."— X^^^*€ xix, 27. 

The dead who had come out of their graves, awakened 
to life by the death of Christ, vv^ere walking through the 
streets of Jerusalem, seen of many, who awe-struck 
rushed away to hide themselves from the appalling 
sight. There was terror in the city, — and a horror 
indescribable fell over the hearts of all. Jesus still 
hung on the Cross. The centurion rode down the slopes 
of Calvary crying out in the darkness through which 
light had entered his soul : " Truly this was the Son of 
God." 

"When the evening was coma there came a rich man 
of Arimathea, named Joseph, w^ho was also himself one 
of the disciples of Jesus: he went to Pilate and begged 
the body of Jesus." "And there came also Nicodemus 
(who at the first came to Jesus by night) and brought a 
mixture of myrrh about an hundred pound in weight," 
—to embalm the body of the dead Christ. They and 
their servants found Mary still standing beside the 
Cross. She as Mother had watched o'er the crib — and 
she as Mother is guarding the Cross. That body is 
hers. She had given it its life out of her own life. He 

(187) 



188 A CROWK FOR OUR QUEEiT, 

has given it away for the sins of the world. She stands 
there the sinless watcher and the sorrowful weeper oyer 
her Son's death. 

She saw them coming, — and she waited. They neared 
the Cross. White as a lily was the face of the Dead ; 
and white as the lily of the Valley was the face of the 
Mother of the Dead. Poor Magdalen was in her chosen 
place at the foot of the Cross bathing the dead feet with 
her tears. John was calm and still beside Mary. His 
vocation was a high one. Peter was to have charge of 
the Church; but John was to take care of Mary the 
Mother of all the disciples of her divine Son. 

Against the Cross a ladder was fixed. Joseph and 
K"icodemus mounted. The crown of thorns is gently 
loosened from the head and passed down to Mary. 

Ah ! such a crown and so cruel and for such a King ! 
His blood is on it. That crown can never wither. It 
never has; — nor shall. 

Better thorns than flowers ; — for flowers fade. Never 
mind ! the thorns will bloom into immortelles of mercy 
and love and joy. The nails were loosened in the hands 
and feet. They are gently letting the body down. 

Now Sorrowful Mother! you may kneel down and 
take Him in your arms again and nestle the poor sacred 
head upon your breast. He is coming back to jou. To 
whom else would He first come dead who living first 
came to you ? And to you for us ? The hands of 
poor Magdalen are the home of His feet. They seem 
to be thirsty for her tears. And they rest so sweetly in 
her hands. 

But ah ! around that scene hovered unseen hosts of 
angels. Gabriel of the Annunciation was there strength- 
ening the soul of the Mother in her sorrows,— strength- 
ening her arms to bear the dead Burden. 



THE FLOAVEK OF MARY's MARTYRDOM. 189 

Not a word was heard; — only Magdalen could not 
help but wail; — for she could not understand it all. 
Jesus was dead and her heart was breaking. The 
Mother's heart was already broken. 

What woe was like His Mother's woe? She would 
have died holding the dead Christ had not God's strong 
grace held her up. She smoothened the tangled and 
blood-clotted hair as calmly as she smoothened His hair 
long ago when He was a child. 'Twas deep joy then. 
It is deepest sorrow now. 

She sits down on the grass, — and the dead Christ is 
resting in her lap. '^ He had no place to rest His weary 
head'' in life, — He said it Himself long ago. In death 
as in birth He rests on His mother. Wait awhile I 
She is gazing in unutterable grief on the wan, white 
face. What a long, intense, searching look. Does she 
read there the names of all the elect ? Her grief is 
brightened. Does she read there the names of all lost 
souls ? 

Ah ! how her sorrow puts on a darker darkness i 

Let her alone. 'Tis the saddest picture this world 
shall ever look upon. Somehow the outstretched arms 
will not be closed. Even dead they want to stay wide 
open with mercy's welcome for all the- world. 

The mingled myrrh and aloes she, with the others, 
applies to the wounds. Magdalen embalms the Feet. 
Poor thing! and did she not know that if His feet were 
her's. His heart was her's as well? One last look of 
absolute agony at the dead Face ; — the winding sheet is 
wrapped around the body; — and then Joseph and Nico- 
. demus gently raise the sacred corpse, assisted by John, 
and wend their way down the slopes of the mount to 
the tomb in the garden below. Mary and Magdalen 



190 A CROWK POR OUR QUEEH. 

walk together, — the sinless and the sinner. Is it not 
ever so? 

It was Joseph's Garden. In it he had built a tomb 
for himself. It Avas hewn out of the solid rock. In it 
no dead had as yet lain. Slowly, — silently they came 
down from the mount. They reached the sepulchre. 
It was almost night. The heavens and the earth, awhile 
ago so stirred v/ith terror, were now as calm and peaceful 
as the Pace of the dead Christ. 

In the tomb they laid their burden down. They 
adored It with profoundest adoration. The Mother 
looked her last on the shrouded form of her dead Son ; — 
calm with an almost infinite calmness, — sorrowful with 
an almost infinite sorrow. Her grief was an icy, frozen 
grief that could not melt into the tears that relieve. 
Magdalen sobbed as sinners sob after pardon has come ; — 
wept as those do weep who have lost all they love. The 
great stone was rolled against the door of the sepulchre. 
The restless Christ had found a place of rest at 
last. He will not rest even there long. Away from 
the closed tomb went the mother with a Christ- 
like calm covering the inner sea of sorrow that 
Ava3 whelming her soul down into depths too deep to 
fathom, where all was dark as all was deep, for the light 
of her life was hidden away in the sepulchre. Mary 
Magdalen could scarcely tear herself away from the 
grave of Him who had shown such loving mercy to hero 
But the Mother of the dead Christ was now her Mother 
also, and when called away by the voice of the sinless 
Mary, — the Magdalen, like a little child, obeyed. They 
passed across Calvary on their way to the city. The 
Paschal moon was shining on the Cross. At its feet 
again fell Magdalen. She fain would linger there all 



THE FLOWEE OF MABY'S MABTYKDOM. 191 

night long. All ! it had been a cruel bed of death for 
her beautiful Christ ! The bed was empty ;~but though 
empty she would watch it still. 

The Mother kissed the Cross, and bade Magdalen rise 
and come. They entered the city away in the night. 
Koman soldiers were alrear^y guarding the graye of 
Christ. And what a night for Mary the Mother I 

Every moment, —and every moment was one of intense 
painful wakefulness, — for her sorrow would not go to 
sleep, — filled the Mother's heart with desolation. 

What if the Roman soldiers would desecrate her Son's 
grave? What if they would roll away the stone and 
drag the body forth and m^altreat the dead as they had 
maltreated the living ? The light in Mary's soul has 
gone out. Down in her heart where all was now so 
dark, — like to Christ's cry upon the Cross, — she cried in 
agony: "My Son! my Son! why hast thou forsaken 
m.e ? "^ — And yet, like Him, she was resigned. 

And the night passed on and away. The Sabbath 
dawned. One by one the scattered Apostles gathered 
around her. She was their Mother now. Surely Mag- 
dalen stole away that day to go up to Calvary. If He 
was not there, His Cross v/as there. Did Alary the 
Mother try to approach the grave that day ? Or did she 
go to the Temple to pray for the crucifiers of her Son ? 
The day wore on. The awful gloom of yesterday hung 
like a pall 'round that Sabbath. Night came again. 
"In three days I shall rise again ;'^ the Mother knew 
the words and knew they v/ouid be realized. All that 
night the words were singing in the heart of Magdalen. 
* * * Let us pause and think. The Mother stood 
by the Cross to the last. The Mother received into her 
own arms the dead Christ taken down from the Cross. 



193 A CEOWK POR OUR QUEEIsT, 

It was her right. The birth-right gave her the death* 
right. To hold Him in her arms living and dead was 
her dght and her's only. To see that He was fittingly 
buried was her duty,— a mother's. No do^^'ot,—' Joseph 
of Aramathea asked her consent to accept his sepulchre 
for her divine Son. From first to last, — from the 
Annunciation to the burial of her Son her will had its 
place and her consent its part. 

For Mary was not a tool to be used by God for awhile 
and for a purpose, and then to be flung away as useless. 
Men work with tools. God works with wills. And as 
never Creature was more perfect, — or could be, than 
Mary, — chosen from all eternity to be the Mother of 
Christ; — so never creature had will as full and free and 
perfect in its workings as the will of the Blessed Virgin 
Mary. 

In the perfect freedom of her vvill she is more like 
God in the infinite freedom of His will than all other 
created beings. The Father did not force her to become 
the Mother of His Son. A forced divine motherhood 
would have been an infinite sacrilege. He chose her 
one out of all. She could reject or accept the choice, 
with full, free v/ill, — yet not v\'ithout asking and knowing 
the conditions and consequences of such maternity, she 
accepted it. And from the moment Mary said : ''Be it 
done unto me according to thy will," — until the last 
moment of her sinless life, her will was as free as a 
creature in her finite sphere as God's will is free as a 
Creator in His infinite sphere. It is the perfect freedom 
of her will united to the will of God,— more than her 
perfect intelligence, — that crowns her with her glories. 
Eve's will yielded to Satan. Hence the Fall, Mary s 
will yielded to God's, — hence the Eedemption. 



THE FLOWEE OF MAIll'S MARTYPiDO^ld. 193 

Iler giving her will to God's will gave us our Ke- 
deemer. That act of Mary's will last as long as the 
days of Eedemption, and has something to do with every 
grace of Eedemption. It was a finite act with infinite 
consequences. It was done in a moment, — and it is 
eternalized. 

So two wills govern the Kingdom of the EedeemiCd ; — 
the will of God and the will of His Mother Mar v. 

You cannot break the union of these two wills,— the 
divine and infinite, — God's ; —the human and finite, — 
Mary's. Their accord is eternal. And, therefore, in a 
finite way but everlastingly, the will of Mary given, for 
our sakes, to God, in a real, though finite way bears on 
every day and deed of our Eedeemer and Eedemption ; 
as in an infinite way on every detail of Eedemption bears 
the will of God who accepted her will and made it His 
own. You cannot divide the two wills, — God's and 
Mary's. They began Eedemption's work; and the two 
wills are working together still. If the wills; — the 
persons who own the wills. Therefore the will of Jesus 
and the will of Mary, — and therefore the Person of 
Jesus and the person of Mary can never be separated in 
any single work of this world's salvation. 

And that Saturday night when she was waiting and 
watching for the Eesurrection (for her grace-enlightened 
intelligence knew it all beforehand) her will was a3 
passive and patient as the dead Christ in His grave. 

She would not hasten that glory for even one instant. 

Her will was resting in God as peacefully as the dead 
Christ was resting in His grave. 

Though her mother-heart hungered to see His face 
again; though once long ago she knew that He had 
worked a miracle, as He Himself said, before His time, 



I9i A CROW]^ FOR OUR QUEEK. 

for her sake; her prayer before the Eesurrection was 
just like her prayer at the Annunciation : " Let it be 
done according to Thy wilL" For her perfect will had 
risen from height to height until it touched, — trans- 
figured without losing its freedom, — the infinite will of 
God. And the free " Fiat '' of God and the free '' Fiat" 
of Mary met and mingled in free and perfect union. 

Ah Mother of the free and perfect will ! thy children's 
wills are weak and wayward,— and their consents to 
heavenly calls, slow and uncertain; — pray for us, oh 
holy Mother ! that our wills may be as thine, united to 
God's will always; and that our consent to calls of 
grace may be as thine prompt and full and fervent and 
always faithful, — so that we, like thy divine Son, Our 
Saviour may live only and always "to do the will of 
our Father who is in heaven.'^ 



ASPIRATIO:^'. 

"Son! behold thy Mother." ^ 

Prayer. 

God! from whom Judas received the punishment 
of his sin, and the thief the reward of his confession : 
grant us the effects of thy mercy; that as our Lord 
Jesus Christ at the time of his passion bestowed on each 
a different recompense of his merits, so having destroyed 
the old man in us, he may give us the grace of his 
resurrection. Who liveth. 



TWENTY-FOVRTR DAT. 



SJhe i,\mn at t\xt 6I0VJJ 0f i\xt 3^mxuixon. 



*' Peace be to you.'' —John xx, 21. 

EoMAK soldiers were guarding the closed grave. 
The stone was sealed with Pilate's seal. No doubt that 
with the soldiers were some of the Jews who had assisted 
at the Crucifixion. The Sabbath night wore on. The 
dawn was breaking. Suddenly there was a great earth- 
quake; the stone was rolled away; the Keepers of the 
tomb were struck with terror and rushed away from the 
garden to the city. Jesus had risen. Mary Magdalen 
and Mary the mother of James, and Salome had hurried 
early in the morning to the sepulchre bringing sweet 
spices to anoint the Dead. In the garden He first 
appeared to the Magdalen, and sent her the sinner to be 
the Apostle of His Eesurrection to Peter and the others, 
bidding them meet Him in Galilee. But already 
because she had the first right to see Him, in His 
glory, He had appeared to His blessed Mother. She 
had not gone forth to the grave because He had come 
to her. And oh ! what a meeting between the Risen 
Christ and Mary! How the soul that on Calvary was 
overwhelmed with sorrow, was now filled with joy tm 
speakable! How she worshipped Him in His glory 
with all a creature's adoration and with all a Mother's 
love ! His glory shone around her as th3 darkness of 



196 A CKOWX FOE OUE quee:n". 

Calvary had gathered about her. She was the first to 
make the grand act of Faith in His Eesurrection. No 
more sorrow now. Her soul is lifted up into ecstacy. 
His Face has come back to her again radiant and 
triumphant She holds the shining hands in her own. 
Yes, — this is her own Jesus. And how all the memories 
of His life from Bethlehem to Calvary melted into that 
one golden vision before her! No more darkness for 
her now. The vision of Light she gazed upon flashed 
its splendors o'er her soul ; and new graces without 
number as without measure filled her heart; — and as 
Christ had risen from the grave, Mary rose, higher and 
higher into brightest spiritual spheres beyond the touch 
of human thought. That body now glorified and risen 
He had received from her. Those hands, feet, face, 
heart had been fashioned out of her flesh and blood. 
The Crucified was her own and the Eisen one is her's 
as well. He is the same Christ. He has not lost His 
human identity and that human identity springs from 
her motherhood. Yes, — He has come back changed in 
appearance, — but not in body. And Eisen He is still 
her's and because her's, our's. The body, which she gave 
Him, — dying and dead, proved His humanity. And the 
£elf-same body rising and risen attests His divinity. 
The same body received from her proves that Christ 
was the Son of Man and proves that He is the Son of 
God. His body is the argument. She who gave the 
body is necessary to the argument. There is no one 
living on that Easter Sunday morning to prove that the 
Eisen Saviour was the babe of Bethlehem, except Mary. 
The Mother of Jesus is the single solitary personal eye- 
witness to testify that He of whom the Angel says to-day: 
"He is risen He is not hero: " — is the self-same one ovei 



THE FLOWER OE THE RESUERECTIO:^'. 197 

whom the Angels sang the Gloria thirty- three years ago. 
Over the lowly crib she bent and claimed the babe as 
her own. Beside the Cross she stood " the Mother of 
Jesus" claiming Him as her own. And now beside the 
open grave she stands — Mother still; — and testifies: 
"Yes, — He is the same: The Eisen Christ was the 
babe of Bethlehem. I know it; — for I am His Mother." 

She has a real and rightful (and for us a necessary) 
place in the glory of the Kesurrection as she had in the 
mystery of the Crucifixion. She cannot be done 
without. 

Christmas needs her presence not only as a part of 
the scene and a factor in the Mystery but as a necessity 
to the argument of Christ's birth. Calvary needs her 
not only as a figure in the awful scene, and an actor in 
the mystery but as an argument for the real physical 
death of the Body Christ received from her. Easter 
Sunday needs her presence not only as a part of its 
mystery of glory but as a living witness that the same 
human body which she brought forth has risen again. 
It is still in logic as well as in life Jesus and Mary 
together. And the logic as well as the life of Eaith, 
that rise triumphant with Christ's body out of the open 
tomb last forever; and the Mother who stood in the 
shadows of Calvary that passed away, stands and must 
of right stand for all days before the eyes of believers as 
an essential element of that Christian Truth which for 
its divinity rests upon the mystery of the Eesurrection. 
As Good Friday with the shadows that gathered about 
the death of Jesus comes to every day of time with its 
Cross and Mary standing beside it; — a Mystery of 
infinite love and Mercy; so Easter Sunday with its open 
grave and Eisen Saviour combes with its splendors to 

17* 



19S A CilOW:^^ FOU OUn QUEEiT. 

light up, a mystery of infinite power and glory with 
Faith and Hope, every day of this world's history; — 
and we see and must see the Mother standing in the 
glory of its light that shall never pass away. 

For Mary gives the human meaning to every divine 
mystery. She stands amid them all; — she moves along 
with them ; she places them within our reach. Without 
her they are not humanly real. Without her they 
are vague, incomplete, far-off and unapproachable. 
With her they are definite, complete, near unto us and 
accessible. 

Where any mystery of Christ's life presents itself, — 
she must present herself as Mother, as witness, and 
as argument. When Christ rose from the dead He 
did not cease to be man. He was man transfigured, 
glorified, victorious, never to die again. As man thus 
risen, in the which He proved His divinity, Mary did 
not cease to be His Mother, Nor did her rights as 
Mother cease. 

The mysteries of the life of Jesus are the irrefragable 
arguments attesting that He is the eternal Truth and as 
euch has the right to the faith of every man. You give 
your faith to Him as Truth and to the truths He taught. 
But He, — as The Truth as well as the truths which He 
announced have their reason in His life's mysteries. 
All those mysteries are human and divine, — physical 
and spiritual. And Mary alone is the ever-living — ever- 
lasting, — and to the eyes of true Faith, — the ever- 
essential element giving earthly reality to the human 
and physical side of every one of the mysteries of 
Christ's life. 

The mystery of Christ's human priesthood; (for He 
was not a priest as God) the mystery of Christ's human 



THE FLOAVER OP THE RESURRECTION. 199 

Kingship over all men (for only as man is He King of 
all men); the mystery of Christ's absolute infallible 
authority as teacher of all men (for it is by the right of 
His Divine Manhood that He teaches the world), — 
need Mary and her motherhood as their human reason. 
Those mysteries lose half their meaning, — or are mean- 
ingless; and the truths based on them lose half their 
evidence — or are evidenceless — if Mary be thrust aside. 
In the order of Providence she is as necessary to Jesus 
as He is necessary to us. It is ever and always Jesus 
and Mary together. 

The hand of the human race must rest in the hand of 
Mary to find beside her and with her, her Son, our 
Saviour Jesus Christ. 

So His glorified Hands and Feet and Face belcmged 
to her as His Mother in the glory of Easter-morn, as 
truly as they did, when the weak little Hands and Feet 
and Face of the Babe belonsfed to her far back in the 
Christmas midnight at Bethlehem. And the glorified 
body, — ahi His the same wondrous truth; — her's, — 
then His;— then our's. Oh Mary, Mother of the Eisen 
Christ! we hail theo in the triumph of thy divine Son, 
as we bowed in sorrowing love before thee in thy desola- 
tion on Calvary ! Thou dost stand forever in His glory 
as thou did'st stand beside Him in the gloom of the 
Cross. At the crib, at the cross, at the grave thou art 
His Mother still,— and because His, our ever-blessed 
Mothero In the heavens where thou art throned Queen 
Mother of the Victor of death, pray that we, rising from 
the grave of sin triumphant by penance victorious in 
hope, may never lose again the eternal life of His holy 
grace ! 



200 A CROWK FOR OUR QUEEK. 

ASPIRATIOiq". 

*^He is risen, — he is not here/' 

Prayer. 

God, who on this day, through thine only begotten 
Son, didst overcome death, and open unto us the gate of 
everlasting life; as by thy prompting grace thou dost 
breathe on the desires of our hearts, so do thou ever 
accompany them ^vith thy help. 




TWENTT-FIFTH DA Y. 



Si^fte i^lmtx 0f \\\t (Sl^rtj ti the %mnm. 



*'An(l Jesus coming spoke to them, saying : All power is given to me in 
heaven and in earth. Going theref oce teach ye ail nations : baptizing 
them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy 
Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have com- 
manded you: and behold I a-n with you all days, even to the con- 
summation of the wov\(i.''—MaWieiu xxvi i, 18, 19, 20. 

Whek Jesus died on the cross His human soul still 
united to the Divinity (as was His body in the grave) 
true to its mission of mercy for all, descended into 
Limbo. There all the souls of the dead from the 
beginning (that had been saved before the day of Ee- 
demption as wo are saved after it by faith and by par- 
ticipating in the merits of Christ) were waiting, in 
hope, as the world had waited for "the glad tidings of 
the great joy." Our Good Friday was their Christmas. 
Adam and Eve, Abel and Seth, Noah and Abraham, 
Moses and Aaron and generations of the saved from 
every race and land dwelt there in Eest and Expecta- 
tion. 

Perhaps by angelic revelation they knew, in part, 
the work of salvation already accomplished by Christ 
on earth. 

Perhaps Joseph the Foster-father had told them 
the story of Bethlehem and the Messiah and the 
Mother. 

(201) 



303 A CEOWI^ I'OR OtJR QtJEEX. 

Limbo was a place of life. It was an abode of 
souls. And if in our world soul seeks soul and mind 
communicates with mind in interchange of thought; 
how much more intimate must that interchange be 
when the senses that help and yet hinder the union 
of our souls, have been laid aside. When one by 
one they reached that place of Eest would not each 
soul there ask each new- coming one tidings of the 
earth ? Our world forgets. The next world remembers. 
The supernatural world, the Church has the memory as 
well as the mind of Christ. 

And when the soul of the penitent thief, who died 
before Christ, went straight from its pardon and its 
cross to their Paradise, did it not Apostle-like an- 
nounce to them the Mystery of Calvary? The three 
o'clock of Good FriJay filled the earth with darkness 
but to Limbo brought eternal Light. 

How long had they been waiting there and how 
marvellous must have been the life they led in those 
realms of Eest ! 

What activities of hope must have filled that quiet 
place ? What a strange all-spiritual ritual must have 
ruled their worship ? 

They knew that Heaven's gates would not be opened 
until He would come who held the keys. 

So they lived on, age after age, a strange, mysterious 
life, with a hidden history of its own,~beautiful, 
peaceful, hopeful ; for they knew that the God of their 
fathers remembered, and would surely in His own 
time, keep His promises. 

While the earth, which their spirits had departed 
from and where their bodies were buried, was full of 
tumult and iniquity, — their abode was as still as a 



THE FLOWER OF THE ASCEi^TSIOiT. 203 

sacred temple waiting for its Lord to enter its beauti- 
ful gates. 

He came at last from the dark Friday, — the feast of 
His death, bringing them a feast of life and Kedemp- 
tion's joy. They were the first to see the soul of 
Christ, — for the earth had only seen the body that 
veiled His soul. 

The shepherds saw it first. And now His soul goes 
down to meet the souls of the great shepherds of His 
people. There was surely a Gloria in Excelsis sound- 
ing through the beautiful Limbo; — while they wor- 
shipped the soul of the Messiah. 

What a meeting between the soul of Adam and the 
soul of the second Adam, Did the soul of Eve sing 
a Magnificat for the glory of her pardon and the ful- 
fillment of the Promise, as the second Eve had sung 
hers on earth for the glory of her Divine Maternity? 
And the spirits of the Patriarchs and the Prophets 
waiting, resting, hoping so long hailed the human 
soul of Jesus Christ in the joy of profoundest adora- 
tion. 

The soul of John the Baptist was there. Had he 
been Christ's precursor there as he had been on earth ? 

Christ announced to them the accomplishment of the 
promises in His person, words and works. His preach- 
ing to them has not been written. It was soul to 
soul, — thought to thought, — no word. But if the words 
that veil hi^ thoughts are so beautiful, how glorious 
must be the thoughts unveiled ? 

Three days His body in the tomb by Eoman soldiers 
guarded,— three days His soul in the under-world of 
Kest surrounded by the souls nre ransomed by His 
merits. 



204 A CROWN TOR OUU QUEEN. 

What a beautiful Feast those three days must have 
b:en! 

On Easter morn His soul re-ascended to earth, was 
united to the body — and Christ rose from the dead. 

Forty days He remained on earth. 

Scripture tells us of ten or more apparitions to His 
Apostles and digciples. He taught them the mysteries 
of the Kingdom of God. He gave them the details 
of the constitution of our Holy Church and the essen- 
tial laws of the Sacraments. What else was the work 
of Christ in His risen life ? 

Are there other worlds inhabited by intelligent crea- 
tures, creatures fallen in their trial, — or unfallen ? 
Did Christ ascend to them to announce the work of 
Mercy and of love wide enough for all the worlds? 
Did He pass round the earth, to bless beforehand every 
spot where an altar of Redemption would be raised? 
His works are always greater than Scripture tells us. 
St. John says so. May not His Church, — does not His 
Church fill all creation wherever a creature fallen or 
unfallen is found ? May not the Militant Church on 
earth be only, as it were, a little diocese of the glorious 
Church which reaches from end to end of creation? 
If all creation did not need Redemption, — all creation 
needed Glorification to complete and perfect it. There 
are mysteries hidden and secrets unknown in that 
strange life of the forty days after the Resurrection, 
which we may dream of (for Faith does not forbid such 
dreamings) but which, unrevealed, lie far away beyond 
our narrow, earthly knowledge. And durmg those 
days whose history is hidden in silence from us, — 
somewhat like the days of Nazareth, — what of Mary 
His Mother? How many times did He appear to 



IHE PLOWER OF THE ASCENSION. 205 

her? 1 wonder did He stay days and nights beside 
her who had so faithfully stood beside His Cross! 
Scripture is silent, but there can be no doubt that she 
had more privileges of His appearance and presence 
than all or anyone else. Magdalen still clung to her;— 
but after Easter Morn the name of Mary Magdalen 
disappears from the sacred record. 

The Forty days passed with their known and un- 
known words and v>^ork3. He was about to ascend to 
His Father. There was a Mount called the Mount of 
Olives, near Jerusalem. Thither went His Apostles 
with His Mother and many disciples. Jesus approached 
and they adored Him, — '' but some still doubted." 
*'A11 power is given unto me m heaven and on earth : 
Go ye therefore and teach all nations, — baptizing them 
m the name of the Father and of the Son and of the 
Holy Ghost ; — teaching them to observe all things what- 
soever I have commanded you ; and behold I am 
with you all days even unto the consummation of the 
world." His last words these, — and to last hreYer. 
They were the commission given to men from Him as 
Son of Man to whom the Father had given all power, 
to perpetuate the Kingdom of Truth which He by 
His life, OruciSxion and Eesurrection had founded. 
Then a bright cloud hid Him from sight. His visible 
presence disappeared from the w^orld not to reappear 
until the Day of Judgment. He had come to the 
world in the noon of night — secretly and silently. He 
leaves the world in the noon of day publicly and with 
words of power on His lips. His Mother w^as there. 
She was the Mother of the Man to w^hom all power 
V had been given and who delegated this power to the 
Apostles. She has her place on Mount Olivst. She 

18 



206 A ciiow:n[ foe ouk queek. 

IS not only a joyous spectator of Christ's Ascension, — 
she IS the Mother of the Ascending One , — and a living 
part of the Mystery. She is the Mother of Him who 
had all Power- She is the Mother of Him who gave 
all Power. Wherever that Power goos ; — wherever 
that Power works; wherever that Power triumphs 
down to the end of time, — she has her place m its 
history, — with this difference, that whereas the Apostles 
were ; and their successors were to be only representa- 
tives of Christ, Mary was His real Mother, — and as 
such had a royal right to the Queen's place m His 
Kingdom. 

Who ascended ? The Son of Mary who is the Son 
of God. Who gave the Power for the world's con- 
version? The Son of Mary who is the Son of the 
Eternal Father, Can they preach Christ's humanity 
without preaching Mary's Maternity? No, — no. It is 
still and still forever, as m the mysteries of Judea, so 
in the histories of the everlasting kingdom, — Jesus 
and Mary, — Son and Mother together. Whatever 
church (so-called through courtesy) keeps her back 
keeps Him back from the reach of the race redeemed. 
Their faces, their names, their lives, m time's days 
as in Eternity's decrees, appear together side by side. 
If Christianity be the frame out of which the merci- 
ful face of Jesus, suffering, risen, ascending and tri- 
umphant in heaven looks down forever, livingly, 
divinely, humanly, on the worshiping world of be- 
lievers, — the face of Mary must be framed with it to 
make and keep it human, earthly and of real likeness 
to ourselves. 

If the human heart of Jesus beats back of every 
grace, l.iw, truth and sacrament for the world's redemp- 



THE FLOWER OF THE ASCEinSIOX. 207 

tion; — the heart of Mary must be felt beating with 
it m everlasting accord. The heart of the Mother 
throbs forever m the heart of the Son. Had Christ 
had an earthly father He would not have been divine,^— 
could not have been true and real God, and His 
redemption would not and could not have been Infi- 
nite in power and eternal in effects. 

He has but one Father, — the Eternal. But without 
earthly father lie is as truly and really,— and forever, 
the Son of Mary as He is the Son of God consubstan- 
tial with His Father. And therefore as her Son and 
corporally consubstantial with His Mother,— Mary, in 
finite degree, as the Father in degree infinite has part 
and place and power and share down all His reign 
as King in the endless Kingdom. His Mother must 
come with H.m to prove that He is man,— and* of kith 
and kin to the human race;— as the Eternal Father 
must go with Him to attest His divine Personality in 
the Godhead. The Eternal Father and the earthly 
Mother stand together back of Christ,— spiritually ever 
present (and Christian logic demands it) back of every 
word He speaks personally or representatively;— back 
of every work He does, of Himself or through His 
plenipotentiaries. The Divine of Christ teaches us 
through the Human ; — the Human of Christ teaches us 
and can teach us only through Mary, His Mother. 

Nor is this mere sentiment. It is clear Christian 
human reason. And that human reason is founded on 
the very reason of God Himself foreordaining from all 
eternity and accomplishing in time, the economy of 
man's' Eedemption. 

Writing of the Church, St. Paul says : "We have the 
mind of Christ." And so we have, Christ's body 



208 A CIlOW:Nr FOR OUR QUEEK. 

shrined and gave forth Christian life. Christ's mind 
contains and reflects Christian logic, — not lifeless argu- 
ments,— but living reasons. AVe have His mind and 
with it we have the living reasons which lie back of, 
and inform the work of Eedemption in all its wonder- 
ful outline of love and in its every single detail of 
mercy. 

Into those reasons (man the object of salvation apart) 
enter four persons, — three Divine, — Father, Son and 
Holy Ghost; — one human, — Mary, a creature and 
Christ's Mother. She is necessary to the life of Ee- 
demption and she is equally, and just for that reason, 
necessary to the logic of Christianity. Oh Holy 
Church! Bride sinless of Him who was and is and 
will be forever the human-divine Son of the sinless 
Mary, — thou hast the mind of Christ, — thou dost per- 
petuate the life of Christ, — and wherever thy voice is 
lifted thou dost magnify her whom God magnified and 
whose soul did magnify God, — and thou dost know 
and thou dost preach to all generations and to all ages 
the Eternal Fatherhood, — the Eternal Son's Brother- 
hood, — the over-shadowing of the Holy Spirit, — and 
Mary's Motherhood, — and thus thou alone dost give 
to the world the perfect reason of that Faith without 
which it is impossible to serve God and save our souls. 



Aspiration". 

" I go to Him who sent me." 

Prayer. 

Grant, we beseech thee, Almighty God, that we 
who believe thy only-begotten Son our Eedeemer to have 
this day ascended into the heavens, may ourselves also 
in mind dwell amid heavenly things. 



TWENTY-SIXTH DAY. 



%)xt c^lmrcr 0f \\t ®l0t:a icrf P^vy m '^twittt^^U 



''All these were persevering with one mind, in prayer, with the 
women and Mary the Mother of Jesus."— ^c^f^ i, 14. 

Jesus had promised to send the Holy-Spirit, the 
Paraclete, to abide with the Apostles and to carry on 
to its completion the great work of Eedemption. 

As^thc Spirit cf God had " moved over the face of the 
waiters" in Creation's beginning to infuse into them the 
principle and germs of creature-life; — as the same Holy 
Spirit had overshadowed Mary, in the day of the Annun- 
ciation, with the vivifying power by and through which 
she conceived Jesus — creature, — yet also Creator; — so 
the same Holy Spirit was to overshadow the Virgin 
Church, with mighty power, to make her truly the 
spiritual mother of innumerable children. 

Ten days passed. The Apostles were gathered to- 
gether in an upper room in Jerusalem, — and " Mary, the 
Mother of Jesus ^' was with them. "Suddenly there 
came a sound from heaven as of a mighty wind rushing; 
and there appeared unto them cloven tongues as of fire 
and it sat upon each of them ; and they were all filled 
with the Holy Ghost." 

The Virgin Mother Church had been conceived in the 
heart of Christ immaculate as His Virgin Mother had 
been conceived immaculate. 

18* (209) 



210 A CROWK FOR OUR QUEEK. 

On Pentecost by the coming of the Holy Ghost the 
Church was born in her divine perfection. 

And Mary who had watched over the new-born Christ 
in Bethlehem, watched over the new-born Church; — 
and, for fifteen years longer she was still to remain on 
earth to watch the infant Church in its growth. 

Was it merely accidental ? Hush ! with God in His 
ways and works there is nothing accidental. Let igno- 
rance be welcome to the false and meaningless word. 

Faith says — no. Her stay on earth after the Ascen- 
sion was not, 'tis true, necessary; but it was providential. 
God had a reason why she should remain yet awhile 
longer in the world. 

The Mother of Christ was to be to the Church, — not 
a Teacher, — not an apostle, — but something higher, 
nearer, dearer, tenderer, — the Mother of the Faithful. 

Her very face recalled to their eyes the face of Jesus. 
Her very presence implied that where and with whom 
she was her divine Son would be. Her grand graces 
hung around the cradle of the Church as they had 
hung around the crib of the Infant Christ. What we 
reason about from afar off the Apostles and the faithful 
beheld before them. What was clear sight to them is 
clear, true syllogism to us. She is a living part of 
Pentecost's mystery. The mysterious day of Pentecost 
lasts forever. With it begins, — never to end until the 
last day of time, the reign of the Holy Ghost with all 
the rights and royalties of the graces of Sanctification. 

And so henceforth it is and it will be always not only 
Jesus and Mary together, — but Jesus and Mary and tbe 
Holy Ghost together; — and where they are the Eternal 
Father must be. Down from the upper chamber came 
Peter with the eleven. Peter, the commander-m-chief, 



THE FLOWER OF MARY OK PENTECOST. 211 

by right of rank, stood up and spoke for the rest and 
gave to the multitudes around him the first battle-cry 
of Christian faith: "Ye men of Israel, hear these 
words. Jesus of Nazareth a man approved of God among 
you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did 
by Him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also 
know, — Him being delivered by the determinate counsel 
and fore- knowledge of God, ye have taken and by wicked 
hands have crucified and slain." The battle-cry is 
Christ's humanity. And amid the hearers stood Mary 
His Mother; living, present, visible proof that Christ 
was Man. 

Then rising in his argument to the triumph of 
Christ's resurrection and to the glory of His Ascension 
Peter concluded : " Therefore let all the house of Israel 
know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus 
whom you have crucified both Lord and Christ." 

The Mother was just as necessary to his argument as 
was God Himself. " Jesus of Nazareth a MAifl".'^ Mary 
is necessary. Jesus of Nazareth, — Lord and Christ. 
The eternal Father is necessary. "Jesus of Nazareth" 
is the subject of the first sermon of Christianity,— as 
He will be the subject of Christianity's last sermon; — 
and the subject of every sermon between the first and 
the last. Essential to the subject are His eternal Father 
and His earthly Mother. Either thrust aside, He is not 
the Christ of Bethlehem — or of Nazareth, or of Calvary, 
or of the Kesurrection, or of the Ascension, — nor is He 
the Christ preached to the world on Pentecost Sunday. 
His manhood and her womanhood, — His human sonship 
and her motherhood stand or fall together. 

Where goes the Man goes the Mother. Where the 
Mother is not there is not, nor can be the true and real 



212 A CKOWK FOR OUR QITEeH". 

Christ. As long as He lives she lives. Where lie 
works, her Son works, — where lie wins, her Son wins ; 
and she, as Mother, has a Mother's incommunicable 
share in His works and in His triumphs. The Apostles 
will have successors. His Mother has no successor. 
Their preaching will give testimony to the Word made 
flesh. But their testimony needs Mary's sinless body to 
confirm it and to make it full, clear, true, real and com- 
prehensible. 

And above all things, that Sacrament of Sacraments 
which is the "Mystery of Faith," the blessed Eucharist 
m which we receive the very body and blood of Christ 
rests fundamentally on the fact of Christ's humanity 
which itself rests on the fact of Mary's maternity. 

Pentecost was the Birth-day of the Church of Christ. 
Our Holy Church alone has the right to keep it. 

The Peter of Pentecost is preaching still and will 
preach and teach the world forever. Pope Leo holds his 
place and his prerogatives. And the sermon is the same 
as the subject is the same, — the "Man Jesus of Naza- 
reth." His humanity springs from Mary's maternity. 
The Sermon must lean on the Mother as a star must 
lean upon a sky. And — "The Christ and Lord." 
The teaching must lean upon the Eternal Father, — as 
the sun leans against the Heavens. 

Peter's Pentecostal argument is Faith's eternal argu- 
ment. Any thing less is false. Any thing more is 
wrong. And it is the full and perfect and unanswerable 
argument. He was brief, terse, brave, pointed. He said 
it all in a few sentences. He gave to the world the plan 
of Christian preaching. He had the right to give the 
plan, for he was the Prince of the Apostles. First 
point, — the humanity of Jesus of Nazareth. Christ's 



THE FLOWER OF MA^Y O:^ PEiH"TECOST. 213 

Mother proves it. Secfond point, — the Divinity of Jesus ; 
— the Uternal Father proves it. Oh beautiful Christ ! — 
and Thy Kingdom shaJl be as wide as the world, — and 
everlasting shall be Thy reign; — and Thou shalt win 
victories, — and Thou shalt have triumphs; — and Thou 
shalt wear crowns of infinite glories. When Thou dost 
now every day lay them down m heaven at Thy Father's 
feet; — and when in the end Thou shalt lay down all the 
trophies of Thy Precious blood at the footstool of Thy 
Father's throne, — will not the Mother who gave Thee 
Thy Precious Blood participate, with Thy Eternal 
Father, in Thy infinite glory ? Thou Son of Man and 
King of men ! wilt Thou forget her who made Thee 
such ? Will she not have ever and forever the sacred 
rights of Thy Mother, — and the royal prerogatives of 
Queen in Thy Kingdom ? 

Yes, — yes, — they are her's given to her and never to 
be taken away. 

Let us enter the gates of all the churches. 

Ah me ! there are many churches di Jering each from 
the other, though they, each among all assume the glory 
of being the Church of Christ. Did Christ ever differ 
from Himself? Is His name a name of contradictions 
which Faith, violating the protests of truth, must 
accept ? Can He Himself, or through His Church, say 
one thing to one and contradict it to another ? No — no. 
One Christ, — one Church. But let us enter the doors 
of the churches which claim to be His. 

There are many tests. Let us take but one. 

Only one question, — ever so simple. How do you 
stand towards the Mother of Christ? What is your 
attitude? Is it one of love and veneration; — or one of 
indifference, or else one of hostility? That tests your 



214 A CROWi^r FOU OUK QUEEK. 

title as Church of Christ. Do you keep the Mother 
and Son together — Him to adore as your Saviour- 
God, — her to honor and venerate as the Mother of 
the God-Saviour. Answer — Yes — or No. And your 
answer, in the court of human reason as well as before 
the tribunal of true Christian Faith settles at once and 
forever the question whether you are of God's divine 
design or of mere man^s false dreaming. 

Alas! and yet alas! in the so-called Christian 
churches we seek but find not Mary, the Mother, of 
Jesus with her rights and powers. Logically a Maryless 
church is a Christless church. A church, that does not 
take the Mother and throne her in her exclusive place 
has no right to take the Christ whom the world received 
through her. Mother and Son, — Jesus and Mary 
together ! 'Tis the ceaseless refrain of Eedemption's 
glorious and endless hymn. 



ASPIRATIOK, 

"He is risen, — he is not here," 

Prayer. 

God, Avho on this day, through thine only begotten 
Son, didst overcome death, and open unto us the gate of 
everlasting life; as by thy prompting grace thou dost 
breathe on the desires of our hearts, so do thou ever 
accompany them with thy help. 



TWENTT'SEVENTH DAY. 



'^U 4\mtx 0f i\xt lay t^t ^ixx^'a ^uWx. 



" My memory is unto everlasting generations."— -£"^0^. xxiv, 28. 

Peteb, the Chief of the Apostles preached the first 
sermon ; and Peter celebrated the first Mass. At that 
Mass Mary received the Holy Eucharist; and as many 
think, the sacred species remained in her incorruptible, 
with the sacred Presence, from one Communion to an- 
other; — so that her heart was all the while the ciborium 
and the Tabernacle where Jesus mystically dwelfc. Her 
Communions, like her Conception of Jesus, in intensity 
of love and in unapproachable graces, are simply beyond 
measure of thought and description of word. Mean- 
while,— just as Christ had said: "The disciple is not 
above the Master; — if they persecuted Me — they will 
persecute you : " — the Jews rose up in v/rath against the 
new doctrines. The cry of His enemies on Good Fri- 
day: "Away with Him; away with Him*' — rang out 
in fierce hatred against His followers. Stephen, a 
disciple of Gamaliel, Avas the first to shed his blood and 
give up his life for Christ. His body fell beneath, but 
his soul soared above their brutal argument of stones. 
Peter was put into prison. Chain the chief and his 
followers will retreat or surrender. Such their thought. 
They were soon undeceived. An angel came, — as Mary 
of Agreda write?, sent by the Blessed Virgin, — unbound 

(215) 



216 A CEOWK FOR OUH QUEEX. 

him, opened the prison doors and set him free. Mary 
was not teaching, — but she was guarding the Teachers. 
Had Jesus not said it : ^'I will not leave you orphans ?'' 
As He, — so the Church has a Mother; — and her name 
is Mary. How she watched its first suflferings, — its sud- 
den growth, — and the beginnings of its glory! The 
Apostles preached. Mary, tho Mother prayed. 

And who can measure the power of those prayers? 
All looked so dark around the young Church. So few 
against so many. But nothing now w^as dark to her. 
She saw it all, — the growing Light around her. Slie 
rejoiced with an exceeding joy. Down in her heart 
she was singing over again "with the same music but 
with new meanings her soul's Magnificat. For she 
saw the future, — all, — all, — all, — and the endless glories 
of the Kingdom of her Son. The Apostles and disci- 
ples separated. When soldiers separate, — they are de- 
feated. The soldiers of the Cross separated to conquer. 
Each went to his own mission and his appointed coun- 
try to preach, to testify, to die, — and to triumph. They 
were workers, — and they had no time to write. Human 
lips — and not a pen were to bring salvation to the 
nations. Paul was r.ot converted by preaching. Did 
Mary's prayers convert him ? With the Apostle John 
she went down to Ephesus among the gentiles. So says 
tradition. After the day of Pentecost Scripture does 
not mention her name. The olden law of silence gathers 
around her life again. Yet none the less was she there 
with all her rights and powers and privileges just as 
she had lived in the silences of Nazareth. Her mar- 
vellous graces could not help but manifest their activi- 
ties wherever she went. She had never lost the beauty 
of her maidenhood. The years had come and gone 



PLOWER OF THE JOY OF MAllx's DEATH, 217 

bufe in appearance she did not grow old. The charm of 
perpetual youth enhanced her incomparable beauty. 
The inner beauty of her soul dazzled the eyes of the 
very angels. It was moving and mounting, every 
minute, from sphere to higher sphere of grace. It was 
gaining merits that will forever help to save the souls 
of sinners and increase the sanctities of the just. The 
Church in her soul and inner life was perfect from the 
jBrst ; and now she begins to adorn her visible body with 
that external beauty which never will be lost and never 
can be borrowed. How much had Mary to do with the 
external adornment of the Church ? Much surely, — 
though how much none can say. 

Will Mary die ? Sinless, — can death touch her ? Is 
not death the penalty of sin? She had no sin. Or^ — is 
not death like that of Christ the chosen, vicarious ex- 
piation of sin. Mary cannot expiate even a venial sin 
by her life or death. But she can die to imitate her Son 
in His vicarious death. And like Jesus she will, though 
not under the ban of sin bear the burden of death which 
belongs to the human race. 

She went up to Jerusalem. The Mother's o.yes craved 
to behold once more the scenes hallowed by her Son in 
His life and death. She would fain make the way of the 
Cross before she went to receive her crown. Her faith- 
ful children in the faithful Church will, in after times, 
imitate her. In lowly chapel and in grand Cathedral 
pictured forever are the fourteen stations of the Way of 
the Cross. She knelt at each and prayed at each of them 
not for herself but for us. The day of her death came, — 
and the hour. It was a Friday. Even as to the day she 
will be like unto Jesus. Had the Archangel Gabriel 
come again to announce the joyful tidings of her deatb ? 
Id 



318 A ciiow:^" Pon our QUEEiq-, 

For death was a joy to her, — and such a joy — to go and 
meet her Beloved in the Kingdom of His glory! 

St. John of Damascus writes : " By the command of 
her Son, the Apostles assembled around her, and they 
had come for this purpose to the city of Jerusalem from 
the most distant parts of the world.'^ 

She strengthens and comforts them. She speaks her 
last words to them — so strangely like the words of 
Jesus. He was looking at them through His Mother's 
eyes. St. Thomas of Villanova writes : " Her eyes 
turned heavenward, — and with boundless joy and jubila- 
tion she resigned to her Son her most blessed spirit." 
Her life went out in the ecstacy of a Mother's love. 
And Mary was dead. Thomas alone of the eleven 
living Apostles (for James had suffered martyrdom) 
was not present at Mary's death. They bore the dead 
sinless body to the grave and gently and reverently laid 
it there. Denis the Areopagite writes that he was pre- 
sent at her death and burial. John of Damascus writes 
that heaven and earth were filled with joy when Mary's 
spirit passed away. The Apostle Thomas came at last. 
They went to her tomb on Sunday, — but her body was 
not there. 

Sinless her body was incorruptible. Being the Mother 
of the Eisen Christ, Mary by special grace and by the 
power of God with her body, to her sinless soul reunited, 
anticipated the general resurrection ; Christ raised her 
from the dead and she was assumed into heaven. The 
law of sin in its consequences never attainted her souL 
Why should the law of death in its consequences attaint 
her body with corruption? She died, It is true, m imi- 
tation of her Divme Son, — and like Him ^he was laid 
away in a grave. But a sinless body cannot corrupt. It 



FLOWER OF THE JOY OF MARY's DEATH. 219 

is beyond the reach of that which is death's last and 
lowest humiliation — the worm of the sepulchre, — and 
the return to dust. St. Epiphanius treating the ques- 
tion of Mary's death employs these remarkable words : 
*'I do not say that she remained immortal; — nor am I 
certain that she died.^' 

The Church, hov/ever, believes that Mary did undergo 
the law of death, — not because she was a sinner, — but 
because her body was human and therefore mortal. Yet 
none the less was her body endowed with the grace of 
incorruption. Immaculate soul implies incorruptible 
flesh. So our holy Church with a true and a perfect 
and a brave Faith (for the honor of the Son of God In- 
carnate is involved in the honor of the body that con- 
ceived and brought Ilim forth) holds up to our venera- 
tion not cnly the pure soul of Mary, — but her virgin, 
human form, as well, that was on earth the first and 
sacred tabernacle of the Emmanuel. The Truths of 
Faith flower into beautiful Festivals that their sweet 
fragrance may fill our hearts as they fill our holy 
Church. Every Saturday, since the Saturday when the 
Christ was lying dead in the sepulchre, and only His 
Mother stood amid the disciples, — her face recalling 
to their eyes the Face that bad disappeared, is devoted 
to Mary. It is her day in every week of time. 

And all through the year there are feast-days in the 
Church celebrating, in Christ's honor, her privileges, 
and commemorating, in His honor, the mysteries of His 
Mother's blessed life. Midway in August we meet the 
Feast of her Assumption. The whole Catholic world 
meets, in the spirit of the one Faith, beside her death- 
bed, watches her passing away, beholds her dead, follows 
the Apostles w^hose consecrated hands bore the conse- 



220 A CROWi^ FOR OUR QUEEN. 

crated Burden, — and kneels down at the grave of the 
Mother of God ; while in tones of joy triumphant floats 
from the altar the voice of the Priest : " Let us all re- 
joice in the Lord keeping holy Feast in honor of the 
Blessed Virgin Mary;" — while across the ages realized 
in the festival and illustrating its glories come to us 
the words of old St. Jerome in his sermon on the As- 
sumption : "To all others grace is given in parts; — but 
to Mary comes the plenitude, of all the graces, that is in 
Christ/' Oh! blessed Mother dying! Pray for all 
the dying! "Pray for us now and at the hour of our 
death!" And pray that our bodies like thine may 
rise in incorruption to be crowned with glory forever in 
the heavens! 



ASPIRATIOK, 

"My Beloved to me and I to him." — Ccmticles. 

Prayer. 

Pardok, Lord, we beseech thee, the transgressions 
of thy servants: that we, who by our own deeds are 
unable to please thee, may be saved by the intercession 
of the Mother of thy Son our Lord. 



TWENTY-EIGRTE DAY. 



i,\mix 0f iU ©lartj of ^X^xxS^ (Soxonv^iwn in W^nvtn. 



**For her thoughts are more vast than the sea and her counsels more 
deep than the great ocean."— ^^cc/. xxiv, 39. 

It was Sunday on earth. The light of the sun, 
whose stillness and whose brightness are so strangely 
like the stillness and the brightness of God, was shining 
over the grave of Mary. Thither, — and early, — with 
others went Peter and John as erst tliey had gone 
together to the tomb of Christ. For the grave of the 
sinless one was a holy place. They entered, — they 
looked, — they wondered and knelt them down to wor- 
ship the Power of God; — for Mary was not there. 
Only a moment their wonder lasted. Their quick, 
intense Faith met the mystery and grasped its reason 
and its meaning. Heaven had cklmed that sinless 
body for its own. It was too pure to stay. Up there hi 
heaven it had wondrous rights. 

The glorified human form of Christ was seated at the 
right hand of the Most High. In heaven the angels 
wanted what earth had needed, — Mother and Son 
together, — for if Mother of men she is Queen of Angels. 
They have seen her soul, but they want her smless 
body; for without soul and body reunited, she is not 
the Mary of Bethlehem for whom and her babe they 
had sung that long-gone " Gloria m ExceUisJ' 

19* (281) 



222 A ciiow:iN fok oue queek. 

Heaven wants her in the perfection of her person. 
That means body as well as soul. Heaven's prayer is 
God's will. 

It was Sunday on earth. Are there days in Heavens 
Eternal Day reflecting the light of their glory on our 
little Earth-days and catching from our days the light 
of our Faith ? Has the Church Triumphant a calendar 
of Festivals of glory, — the beautiful counterparts of 
the Feasts of grace in the militant church ? Is there a 
communion of days as well as a communion of saints 
between heaven and earth? We speak a human 
thought, — and only ffpeak it half; — for out of human 
words, alas! we can never v/eave a perfect royal robe 
rich and grand and glorious enough to clothe one single 
divine truth. 

Faith's eyes are better than Faith's fingers. 

Open ye gates that hide the everlasting Vision! 

Ye rest on hinges of mercy. At the breath of a 
saint's prayer or a sinner's sigh for pardon ye are, every 
instant, opened. When the soul of the innocent 
Cometh, — when the soul of the penitent cometh ye open 
and let them enter in. 

Oh! beautiful gates! hung on the pillars of God's 
infinite Love! "Lift ye up your heads! oh ye gates! 
and be ye lifted up ye everlasting gates ! " Who hath 
come in through you? The King of glory? Who is 
this King of glory ? " The Lord strong and mighty, — 
the Lord mighty in battle?" Yea, — He hath entered 
in and is seated at the right hand of His Father. 

But again : " Lift up your heads oh ye gates ! yea — lift 
them up ye everlasting gates," — the ** King of glory, — 
the Lord strong and mighty" will pass through your 
opening to-day,---and \\ith Him all the angels ; — for His 



THE FLOWER OF MARY*S COROKATlOiq'. 223 

Mother is coming from afar off— is coming "fair as the 
moon and bright as a sun '' to heaven and to earth and 
to heaven's enemies '* terrible as an army set in array! '" 
And the King goes lorth surrounded by angels, — fol- 
lowed by the glorified souls of Patriarchs and Prophets 
to meet the sinless Mary. Ah ! once He went forth to 
become her child and to make her His Mother; but 
now He goeth forth to meet heron her heavenward way, 
to bring her through the beautiful gates to her throne 
and her crown and her'glory. Amid such splendors as 
heaven had never seen, — save at His Ascension; amid 
such songs of joy triumphant as heaven had never 
heard. He leads His Mother into the Eternal Courts and 
presents her to His Eternal Father who crowns her 
Queen of all Creation, by right of her being Mother of 
Christ its King. Her place in Heaven corresponded to 
her place on earth, — the highest. Her privileges and 
powers and glories in heaven are like her's on earth, — 
God's. Mother's ; — and therefore unshared and incom- 
municable. 

She is crowned and throned above all the heavenly 
hierarchy. The angelic world honors her with profound- 
est veneration. She is a part of the religion of Glory 
(if I may so speak) as she is a part of the religion of 
grace. Her relations to the Trinity are so real and so 
intimate that she sees doepest into the eternal Beatific 
Vision; and from its depths draws into her one own 
heart more raptures of joy ineffable than all the angels 
together. Keligion here below is union with God in 
grace. Heaven's happiness is union with God in the 
vision of His glory. Mary, highest in grace here is 
highest in glory there. She has reached heights so 
lofty, where union with the Divinity is closest, that they 
are simply inaccessibio to any other created being. 



324 A CKOAVi^ POIl OUR QTJEEK 

Do the angels adore the Divine Humanity of Jesus 
Christ ? Do they not gaze with joys ever new upon the 
glorified Face of Him who sits at the Father's right 
hand? Can they adore that Divine Humanity, — or 
gaze upon its Face without a thought of Mary the 
Mother? 

No — no. What we reason about, — the angels see 
clearly, fully and at once. The angels belong to the 
triumphant church of Christ Triumphant, as we here 
below and now belong to the militant church of Christ 
Crucified. Before their sight in the Vision of Glory as 
before our eyes with their light of Faith Jesus Christ 
and Mary His Mother are together inseparably and 
eternally united. What is truth believed on earth is 
truth seen in heaven. What is fact of Faith in time is 
flash of glory in eternity. Heaven and earth, like God 
and man, aro alike. But the likeness is dim and marred. 
Sm's shadow still hangs over the world. But beneath 
the shadow there is a replm of grace and truth and 
light and priesthood and sacraments. That realm is 
inhabited by men and women and children all the world 
over. It is the realm of Sanctification. The invisible 
Holy Spirit of God the Father and of God the Son 
rules it through visible rulers. It is the Holy Church; 
— herself sinless, yet the Church of sinners; and she is 
like unto the church in the heavens, — essentially like 
and can never be otherwise. What is the cause of the 
likeness, which if removed the likeness will be dim and 
marred? — Jesus and Mary,-— neither from the other 
apart, — but both together. 

Mary, by the power of the Holy Ghost, — her human 
will uniting with the divine will, made Christ, in all 
reality and substantially, to the image and likeness of 



THE FLOWER OF MAHY'S CORONATION. 225 

Man ; and by Him and through her, the Holy Spirit 
still operating, the Church on earth is, in all inner 
reality and substantially made unto the image and like- 
ness of the Church in heaven. 

The *'Hail full of Grace'* with its mystery sounds 
through every day of Eedemption. We hear the words 
and believe the mystery. The "Hail fuP of Grace'' 
with its mystery is a part of heaven's eternal hymn. 
Up there they sing the words and see the mystery in the 
fulness of its glory. Here and There the words are the 
same, — and the mystery. There and Here the names 
shining out of the words are the same, — Mary and 
Jesus, — giving perfect meaning to the Mystery seen in 
Glory as they give complete meaning to the mystery 
believed here below m the days of grace. 

If this be a dream, — it was the dream of God from all 
eternity, — and was made true. If this be poetry, — it is 
the poetry of eternal love wordless in the heart of God 
from the unbegmning, — but sung in time and in words 
of human speech by the Archangel Gabriel in the hour 
of the Annunciation. That was an eternal hour, — 
eternal in the song itself which came from eternity and 
eternal in its echo. 

That echo rings true and clear from every pulpit of 
our Holy Church when the words of the Christ are 
preached to men. Its mystical music is heard at every 
altar where the Christ the Word made flesh comes 
eucharistically to dwell among us. That echo is sound- 
ing back of all dogmas — as they come one by one rays 
out of the sun of Truth, to guide the feet of the 
Faithful. 

That echo is sounding, — a human undertone to the 
divine music of the Sacraments. That echo can be 



226 A CROWX POR OUR QXJEEK. 

heard by the grace-quickened ears of Faith whereyei 
grace is a-working,-— or battling with evil or winning 
triumphs. 

That echo is heard on the lips of the young and the 
old and the high and the lowly, who become Gabriel- 
like in re-announcing from earth to Mary in heaven, in 
faith and love and trust, the V7ords of the Annunciation, 

When that echo dies, Faith in its fullness dies. 

When that echo is lost Mary is lost, — and when she 
is lost the beauty of Jesus is lost, — and the perfect 
meaning of His mercy. 

Mary's coronation in the heavens in highest place and 
first next to Christ's is but the simple recognition- by 
the Trinity and the angel-world of the privileged posi- 
tion which she held among and above all creatures of 
every creation. 

Around her throne there the angels gatlier with 
homages of honor, in the very sight of God, — as we 
gather around her altars here below in veneration of her 
blessed name. They adore Christ the King as God-man 
cr-'^wned with the diadem of the Mercy that redeemed the 
world, — as do we in the Kin^'dom of Eedemption on 
earth, — which is the Church. And they honor with 
highest angelic honor Mary the King s Mother and their 
Queen, — as a part of their eternal worship and of Lheir 
eternal beatitude. The visible presence of their blessed 
Queen has added another to their countless glories ;— 
and has added another duty (if so we may speak of duty 
in heaven) to their other duties. 

For they are at her call, — and gloriously imitating in 
the heavens their King's subjection to her on earth, 
they obey her behests. She has work for them to do in 
all creation. And it is new joy for them to do it, for to 
work for Mary is to work for Jesu?. 



THE FLOWER OF MARK'S COROXATIOK. 227 

All! in the day of her Coronation she was crowned 
with a glory next to that of Christ, — but though 
crowned, her power does not rest, her work does not 
end ; — for her love for her Son the Redeemer throbs in 
her heart for all the redeemed ! 

She gave the Saviour to Creation and she must help 
to sanctify the saved. Infinite Mercy is not hers. That 
is ihf" attribute of God alone. But Mary possesses that 
which is next to infinite Mercy, — the power of the 
Prayer of the Mother of the Infinite. 

Over the eternal Church on high she rules as Queen, 
for she is not the Mother of the angels;— but amid 
the glories of her Queendom she does not forget our 
far-off earthly Kingdom of grace of which on Calvary's 
day she was appo'ntcd Mother forever. 



x\SPIRATlOK. 

"Mary hath chosen the better part'' 

Prayer. 

Pardok, Lord, we beseech thee, the transgressions of 
thy servants : that we, who by our own deeds are unable 
to please thee, may be saved by the intercession of the 
Mother of thy Son our Lord. 



TWENTY--NINTII DA Y. 



%)xt i^mtx t^i W^m\S% %\\\ttu$$\m. 



*'And all mine are thine,— au j thine are mine : and I am glorified in 
them/'— t/o/^'/i xvii, 10. 

Heaven is a place of rest, — but heaven is also o 
]Dlace of work. Its rest does not mean idleness. God 
rests but not in the sense of doing nK)thing. He is 
always at work and always in rest. His grand Omnipo- 
tence, in this very minute, is governing and preserv- 
ing worlds already made ; — and who knows ? — perhaps 
creating new worlds. But His work is effortless. He 
wills because He wills and it is done. The angels are 
in the rapture of the rest. And yet are they not 
"ministering spirits?" Does not ministering mean 
working? The souls of the just are at rest; but in 
heaven do they not make constant supplication for us ? 
Is not supplication work ? Jesus Christ throned at 
His Father s right hand is in the glory of rest; — ?5.nd 
yet this very moment is lie not governing His Holy 
Church and through her applying to the children of 
men the merits of Kedemption. And is not that ever- 
lasting work ^. While every day in heaven is a day of 
rest, heaven has no workless days. Just as the sun 
and the stars, by laws appointed unto them, work 
down through the great distances, on our earth with 
their influences; — so the heavens of Glory, where all 



THE rLOV>^EU OF MAKY'B INTERCESSION-. 229 

is rest, are forever shedding their influences on the 
Church of Christ. There is a law of communion of 
suns and stars by which each afi'ects the other. So 
there is a higher, spiritual law of which nature's law 
is but a type; — "the communion of saints," What 
does it mean ? Is it only a pretty poetic phrase? It 
is written in the Apostles' Creed. It is a living dogma; 
and every dogma is a poem of God's infinite love. 

But what does it mean ? " There is but one Media- 
tor, — Jesus Christ." Is not His mediatorship suffi- 
cient? Yes indeed — and over-sufficient Is not His 
infinite love, which is the heart of His infinite omnipo- 
tent power which is the hand to make His work of 
grace full and perfect, sufficient of itself? 

Verily yes,— and more than sufficient. Does He 
need helpers to assist Him down here in the Kingdom 
of Sanctification ? 

Verily no. He alone of Himself is sufficient for 
His work. And yet nevertheless He does not do the 
work by Himself alone. That work is the work of 
His own Will. But He has willed that the activities 
of all the Eedeemed in Heaven and on earth should 
have part and force and power (finite of course) in 
tlie great Act of Redemption. And more than that. 
He brings into His service and to His assistance in 
the accomplishment of His work the material creation 
itself. He summons the element of water not only to 
be a mere sign, — but to be the essential matter of the 
Sacrament of Baptism, — Chrism for Confirmation; 
wheat and wine for the Eucharist, — oil for Extreme 
Unction. 

Words of numan speech by Himself chosen are 
to constitute the forms of His sacraments. And 



230 A CROw:sr for our queex. 

words of human speecli written in the Scriptures, or 
spoken by Authority, are His earthly auxiliaries in 
the battles and victories of Faith. He might have 
done without such alliance with powers so weak and 
things so lowly,— but He did not. He did as He 
willed; and His will was and is that creatures and 
creation should help Him in the consummation of 
His work of Mercy. Thus creation helps to redeem 
itself. Thus creatures of a sinful race assist in repair- 
ing and rebuilding the fallen Temple of original grace. 
Thus Priests, Bishops, Popes are intermediaries between 
man and man's Mediator. Thus outside of our Holy 
Church the Bible as read by each, or preached even 
by self-appointed and commissionless teachers is an 
intermediary between the human mind and the Media- 
tor. The priests form the House of Christ's Represen- 
tatives chosen by God and by Holy Church ordained, — 
and they stand nearest to the People of Christ. The 
Bishops form the Senate in the Commonwealth of the 
Faithful. The Roman Pontiff is Supreme Head of the 
Church, possessing sovereign power in the realms of 
revealed truth, — a power guarded from every danger 
of abuse by the prerogative of official Infallibility. 

Christ Himself, visibly and personally has done His 
last work and said His last word in this world. He 
works through others on earth. So in Heaven the 
kingdom of glory where He makes infinite mediation 
for us, Christ also works through others. He works 
through the choirs of the angels. He works through 
the souls of the saints. Through their prayers and 
supplications in the home of glory He worketh in the 
kingdom of grace here below. 

But above them all reigns Mary, — Heaven's Queen 



THE FLOWER OP KARY'S IXTERCESSIOK, 231 

and earth's Mother. If Christ gave to His Apostles 
"all power in heaven and on earth," — is not His 
Mother greater? Are not her prerogatives higher? 
Has she not power next to the very Omnipotence of 
God ? Did she lose that power on the day of her coro- 
nation ? Was it not made greater the hour she was 
crowned Heaven's Queen ? Has God taken away her 
rights? When He crowned her did He not confirm 
them? Next to her Divire Motherhood is it not her 
greatest glory to be the r»ediatrix of dinners? While 
on earth did she not love God more than all created 
beings ever did or will or could love Him ? And now 
in heaven has not her love for Him immeasurably 
increased? Did she not love man, while on earth, 
more than man could ever be loved except by God 
Himself? Is not her power equal to her love? And 
who will draw, — and where, — the line that limits her 
love? 

It cannot be drawn save to say only that it is not 
mfinite. Love and Power, — Power and Love superior 
to all Loves and Powers, — inferior only to God's. Let 
the pens of glorious saints and not my pen, — a poor 
sinner's write of her power. 

St Peter Damian writes that all power is given to 
Mary in heaven and upon earth as even Christ the 
Almighty is subject to her since she herself gave unto 
Him a Power which He had not received from God 
the Father, — the power to die and redeem sinners with 
His precious blood. St. Bernard, whose devotion to the 
Blessed Virgin is one of the most striking traits of his 
wonderful life, preaching on the P'east of her Nativity, 
says that God has placed expressly m Mary the pleni- 
tude of every good, that we may be obliged to receive 



232 A CROWN FOR OUR QUEEK- 

every gift from the abundance of her's; and that if 
for us there be any hope of salvation, any grace of 
Redemption, any right to eternal glory we must recog- 
nize that all these things come to us from the Saviour 
through her. 

St. Bernardine of Sienna writes : " From the time 
in which the Virgin Mary conceived in her chaste 
womb God's own Son, she obtained a certain jurisdic- 
tion or a special authority over the temporal mission 
of the Holy Ghost, so that no creature has obtained 
from God either grace or merit save by the dispensation 
of this holy Mother." Stronger thoughts come out of 
the heart of the great St. Bernard when he says that 
not a single grace descends from heaven to earth that 
does not come through the hands of Mary. 

St. Thomas of Aqum, the Angel of the Schools, 
says: **As the Son mterceiles for us with the Father, 
so the Mother intercedes for us with the Son." 

These were saints who thus wrote and spoke, — men 
of profound learning only equalled by their piety. 
They were men of lofty reason, of deep, life-long study of 
God^s holy Avord, — of highest virtues. They manifested 
the mind as well as the heart of revelation. 

They were not the babblers of an hour whose words 
were only mere sounds, and like sounds, pass away. They 
were the representatives of truth in the past and 
teachers of faith for the future. 

Their words still ring m truth's own clear and cer- 
tain tone; but heresy has made too many ears deaf to 
the ** Faith which comes by hearing," And so the 
words of the samts share the fate of the words of the 
Saint of saints. They are heard or read but they are 
not understood ; — not because the words are not true- 



THE FLOWER 01? MARy'S INTERCESSIOK. 233 

toned or clearly written; — but because inherited error 
flings a film over the eyes that read; and dulls and 
deafens the ears that hear, the words of divine Truth. 

The minister of error, only a day old in his minis- 
try, who has had a call to preach the Gospel, with no 
virtues, except perhaps honesty and gentlemanliness; 
with no study worth the waste of words to measure it, 
will rise m his pulpit; and one of his first subjects oi 
discourse, if not the very first, is what ? An attack 
against Christ's Church. Against what? The honor 
we pay to Mary, Christ's Mother. 

And he will ring the changes on a word coined by 
falsehood and accepted by prejudice. And the word? 
You know it — Mariolatry. Gentlemen! take care. 
It is Christ-like and therefore Christian-like and there- 
fore Catholic, — to honor Christ's Mother. Not to honor 
her is to dishonor her, — and to dishonor her is surely 
to dishonor her Son, and to dishonor him is to dishonor 
His Father. 

And pray, who are ye who dare give the lie to 
nineteen centuries ? Are you saints ? Are you learned 
men ? If saints, show us your virtues. If learned 
men, prove to us your wisdom. 

Why! the great centuries are choristers singing 
around the altar of changeless Faith hymns of adora- 
tion of Jesus and songs of honor and veneration di 
Mary. 

We m Holy Church are of " the generations (regen- 
erated) who call Mary blessed.'' And who can be more 
blessed than the Mother of the infinitely blessed God 'f. 
False to her is false to Him Indifferent to her is 
indiS'erent to Him. Hostile to her is hostile to Hun. 
Enmity of mind or speech, or of so-called doctrine to 

20* 



234 A CROWK FOR OUR QUEEN. 

her settles the side to be taken by her enemies. The 
words of Genesis are exceedingly plain. They were 
spoken to Satan : " I will place enmities between thee 
and the Woman and between thy seed and her seed/' 
The posterity of Christ is the posterity of Mary the 
Mother of Christ. He is of the seed of Mary — and like 
Him £0 are we. With knowledge or without knowl- 
edge they who are against us are against Christ and 
His Mother, and are on the side of Satan, 

Are these words hard? Yes! hard to a faith as 
flimsy as it is soft (though we ought to call it human 
fancy rather than divine Faith); — but they are God's 
words and not ours; — and so we let them stand in all 
hardness. Catholic Truth in its entirety is a rock 
that will not be splintered. It braves the blow of ttie 
boldest hand ; and it defies the rush of the wildest 
waves; and it smiles, if a rock can smile, at the fury 
of the darkest storm. Who is the truth that is tne 
Rock ? Jesus Christ. And who is the shore on wliich 
it leans ? Mary— the Mother of God. The Rock and 
its Shore are ours and ours alone forever. 



ASPIRATI02!?'. 

'•Pray for as now and at the hour of our death/' 

Prayer. 

Hail Mary! full of grace, the Lord is with thee, 
blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is tne 
fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother ot God, 
pray for us sinners, now, and at the hour ot death. 
Amen, 



THIRTIETH DAT. 



SJh^ Sl^wtx tat 3Xnx\S^ ©larjj in tU fflhutrft* 



*'AncI in all these I sought rest and ( shall a')ide in the inheritance 
of the Lord/'-i^cc/. xxiv, il. 

The Incarnation of Jesus Christ through Mary is the 
rehabilitation in grace of the human race. The Church 
of Christ is the perpetuation of the Incarnation. By 
the first Man Adam, at the word of the Woman Eve, 
sin entered into the world. Sin's reparation was to be 
made by the Man Christ who, at the word of Mary: 
*'Beit done unto me according to thy word," entered 
into this world. Man and Woman, — Adam and Eve 
were the causes of our spiritual ruin. Man and 
Woman, — Christ and Mary, — second Adam and second 
Eve are the causes of our Eedemption. Everywhere on 
earth and until the end of time the act of the disobe- 
dience of our first parents reaches in its consequences 
of sin for souls and death for bodies. And so every- 
where in the world and down to its last day reaches the 
act of Mary's obedience to the divine will in becom- 
ing the Mother of Christ, together with the obedience 
of Christ in doing His Father's will, in the conse- 
quences of grace for the souls and immortality for the 
bodies of every child of the human race who accepts the 
Eedeemer. The influences of Jesus and Mary move 
forever alongside the influences of Adam and Eve. 



236 A CROWN FOE OUR QUEEK. 

Adam and Eve were two persons united in one act, — ^it 
was our rum. Jesus and Mary are two persons united 
m one act, — it is our Redemption. 

Every day of history will man^s heart ask: *^ Through 
whom have I lost all right to heaven?'' And every 
heart's answer will be: "Through Adam and Eve." 
And every day of time each heart will ask : ** Through 
whom shall 1 recover the right to enter Heaven ? " And 
every heart's question shall have its answer, — Through 
Jesus and Mary. It is the only true answer It is the 
full and perfect answer. Truth gives it, — Faith pro- 
clamis it; and the Church of Truth and Faith must 
realize and illustrate it. Else all is as dark to the ques- 
tioning world as it was before the mystery of the In- 
fant's birth in Bethlehem. For the mystery of man's 
regeneration in grace must solve the mystery of man^s 
generation m sin. In the light of the former mystery 
stand Jesus and Mary. In the darkness of the latter 
mystery stand Adam and Eve. 

Our Holy Church is the mystical Eden m this world, 
with gates wide open, guarded by the Angel of the Re- 
demption. Who so wills to kave the beautiful spiritual 
garden may do so. God forces none to stay. But who 
so desire to return and re-enter cannot do so unless they 
come to the gates wearing the robes of grace. In the 
garden are the second Adam and the second Eve, — 
Jesus and Mary, — for it is theirs to keep and culti- 
vate ; — and in our Holy Church we meet them there 
together. 

With us of the true Faith the glory of Jesus is the 
royal mantle of Mary His Mother; — and her glory is 
the brightest gem in the crown of Christ. 

St. Paul writing to the Ephesians proclaims that 



FLOWER CF MARY'S GLORY IN THE CHURCH. 237 

Christ's would be '*a glorious Church without spot or 
wrmkle, or any such thing'' and that "it would be 
holy and without any blemish/' 

What are the glories of the " glorious Church ? ' 

Her divine truths with their heavenly light? Yes. 

Her laws with their sanctifying influences ? Yes. 

Her sacraments with their supernatural action ? Yes. 

Her teachings with their divme power over the human 
mind, — and their infallible certainty? Yes. 

Her messages of Mercy, the legacies of His love, to 
every heart redeemed ? Yes. 

Smners m their penances and pardons ? Yes. 

Saints in the splendors of their sanctities ? Yes. 

Apostles, — Martyrs, Confessors, Virgins with the 
supernatural braveries, sufferings, austerities and puri- 
ties of their lives and deaths ? Yes. 

For m their persons redeeming grace has conquered 
their minds with its light, their wills by its law, their 
hearts with its love. 

Ah ! Yes they are the living glories of the " glorious 
Church '^ whose life 13 divine. They visibly realize in 
their persons and reflect on the world, within as well as 
without the kingdom of grace, the glories of dogmas, 
and laws and sacraments, — the splendors of Faith and 
Hope and Charity, — the light of the Christ who lives 
over again in their lives. 

The Church of Christ must have other Christs, — 
human to prove to the world His divine Chr^sthood. 
All along the ages she will have her Calvaries to climb ; 
but she must and will have a thousand Thabors up the 
slopes of which she will lead sinners from the valley of 
sin to transfigure them on the summit with the splen- 
dors of sanctity, — so that the generations of men passing 



233 A CROWK FOR OUR QUEEK. 

by will see the glory shining ; and in the wonder of 
Faith and with the Faith of wonder, will cry aloud as 
Peter cried: " Oh Lord it is good for us to be here.'' 

Churches calling yourselves Christian listen ! 

You must prove your title. How? In your hand 
you bring us the Scriptures. Well and good. We also 
have them. In your other hand have you the lives of 
your Saints? Saints are living scriptures. Do you 
bring us only words even though they be the words of 
Christ ? They are dead words unless you show us men 
who have lived them. Life is the logic that proves the 
povv^er of Christ. He Himself is not in His words. 
Only His thoughts are there. He Himself in His 
Church by His grace lives in men, women, children who 
participate in His sanctity. Show us such if you can. 

Read for us the Litany of your Saints ! Have you 
none? 

No Saints, — no Christ. 

No canonizations, — then no names crowned on earth 
with the halo of Christ's holiness. 

Churches ! do you lead your followers only through 
the valley of ordinary virtue3 and commonplace duty? 

Lift up your eyes! Yonder on the mountains, rising 
towards the skies the splendors of the *^ Sun of Justice " 
are shining on the snow-white purities of lofty Christ- 
like lives. Do those lives belong to you ? Is the white 
snow up there too cold for the feet of your children ? 
Are the mountains of sanctity too steep and too rugged 
for them to climb ? Are the splendors en their sum- 
mits too bright and dazzling to your eyes? — Then- 
move on down in the valley. You know not the mys- 
teries and the meanings of the mountains climbed by 
Christ, — Calvary, Thabor, Olivet. You are not His 



FLOWER OF MARY'S GLORY IN THE CHURCH. 239 

Church. You have no saints. You haye no hearts 
beating with the highest heroisms of Faith. 

Not so we of His Holy Church. S'rue, — the most of 
us walk in the lower yallejs of ordinary virtue; but 
countless is the number of those who have scaled the 
steeps and reached the summits of holiness. And their 
glory shines down on our souls, making our way brighter 
and our hearts braver ; — and their glory is their's and 
yet Christ's, and what is theirs and His is our's. We 
salute them as we pass, for they are the heroes in the 
march, — in the battles and in the victories of the soldiers 
of Jesus Christ. And they hail us as we pass them by 
with cheering words that give us comfort and courage 
and heavenly trust on our homeward way. 

Human sanctity is the splendor of Divine grace. 
Where its light gleams there surely shines the moveless 
sun of changeless Faith. From the Birth-day of the 
Church until this very evening all down the ages there 
has been a line of Saints. But above them all, with a 
brighter glory than they all together possess, and witli 
a greater power, reigns Mary the Mother in the king- 
dom of her Son. Mother of Christ — Mother of His 
Church, — such is her place and power and glory. 

Is it a wonder that the Church has glorified her in 
every age ? Is it a marvel that blazoned on her banners 
of battle and sounding in her hymns of triumph the 
name of Mary is forever united with the name of Jesus? 

From the beginning she has held in her keeping the 
honor of the Mother of Christ. Whoso dared to lift a 
voice or write a word against Mary, she at once anathe- 
matized. And her reason w^as the simplest, — only this : 
Whosoever attacks the Mother assaults the Son. Anus 
atiacked the Divinity of Jesus Christ by denying His 



240 A CROWK FOR OUR QUEEiT. 

divine and eternal Sonship, — and therefore attacked the 
Fatherhood of God. 

Arius was anathematized. 

Nestorius arose and denied the divine maternity of 
Mary. The Church has never far-fetched or abstruse 
reasons for her action. Clear and simple was her reason 
when she condemned Nestorius. Only this, — Whoso 
attacks the Mother attacks the Son. Just as simple and 
clear as her reason against Arius ; — he who attacks the 
Son attacks the Father. Her enemies pass away leaving 
memories that shame the pages of history. The Church 
of her divine Son moves on. "All her generations, in 
the simplicity of their Faith call Mary blessed/' It is 
her own prophecy becoming part of their religion. But 
in each generation of the children of Faith appear men 
full of wisdom and learning and mighty in grace who 
are the special guards of the rights and the honors of 
the Mother of Christ. Why read the roll of their 
nam^s ? Why quote their words from Jerome and 
Augustine and Ambrose down to the infallible utter- 
ances of Pius the Ninth of but yesterday ? The children 
of the Kingdom hear them from childhood to the grave. 
The wanderers outside the Kingdom hear them not,— 
or when they do they will not understand. Look every- 
where along the past see you not the beautiful bannered 
processions, — simply endless, for where one stops 
another starts, going up to the temples of Jesus to keep 
the feasts of Mary ! 

Do you not behold the consecrated Virgm walking 
side by side with the Magdalen who has come back to 
the shrine <Df mercy, through the prayers of Mary ? Do 
you not see ignorance in ungainly hurry jostling learn- 
ing when she moves with a step that cannot help but 
be stately though her face does wear the look of Faith's 



FLOWEU OF MARY'S GLORY IN THE CHURCH^ 241 

humbleness? And listen! where they move with 
psalms and hymns and spiritual canticles singing the 
endless '^Sanctus! Sandier ' Sandus!''* to the Son, and 
re-echoing back to Mary His Mother her own glorious 
Magnificat From the hall and from the hovel come the 
singers singing. The robe of the king touches the rag 
of the beggai man and becomes more beautiful and 
more royal for the touch. The mantle of the princess 
floats beside the tatters of the peasant The Tiara 
crowned head of the Pope bows where the little altar- 
boy is kneeling. The Bishop's purple and the priest's 
black cassock meet before the altars to honor Mary. 
The Purple and the Black meet there on perfect spir- 
itual equality. Savagery and civilization repeat together 
the same Our Father and the same Hail Mary. The 
Indian strolling the forest tells the same beads as the 
gage in his study. It is all for Mary because it is all for 
Jesus. Is she not then the Glory of the glories of our 
Holy Church : and is it not our glory, with our words 
and with our actions, with our whole hearts and with 
our whole souls and with all the strength of Faith the 
truest and of love the tenderest, to glorify the blessed 
name of Mary in life, in death and in eternity. 



Aspiration. 
" Pray for us, oh ! Holy Mother of God, that we may 
be made wop^thy of the promises of Christ" 

Prayer. 
Pour forth, we beseech thee, Lord, thy grace into 
our hearts, that we, to whom the incarnation of Christ 
thy Son was made known by the message of an angel, 
may, by His passion and cross, be brought to the glory 
of His resurrection, through the same Christ our Lord. 



THIETY'FIBST DAT. 



©be $\mtt tit fflntholit §tvf^ixm U Pavy* 



**Be ye imitators of me as 1 am of Christ.'— /S'^. Paul. 

We have gathered Flowers for the Crown of our 
Mother and Queen from Heaven and from earth ; — flow- 
ers whose roots are in the eternities, — which bloom in 
the vases of the Scriptures and blossom in the Dogmas 
and on the altars of our Holy Church; — their spiritual 
beauty and their glory and their fragrance filling all the 
days of time. Let us come back to our poor, little earth 
to find a fadeless flower growing out of the hearts of the 
Faithful of Christ, — and cull it, — and twine it in the 
crown of our Queen. And she will be glad. Christ 
was devoted to His MoiSier in life, in death and after 
death. His Church like Himself is devoted to Mary. 
That devotion is one of the signs and proofs of its 
Truth. Jesus was subject to Mary in the days of time 
and is subject to her in the days of eternity. For He 
never changes. So His Church subject to Him is sub- 
ject for His sake to Mary. Both subjections have their 
reasons in her divine maternity. Subjection is another 
name for devotion. And Devotion is another name for 
love. Jesus Christ loved Mary more than He could 
love all other created beings, — loved her for her incom- 
parable graces, — loved her for her love for Him, — loved 
her with the infinite love of God for His Mother. So 

(242) 



FLOWER OF CATHOLIC DEYOTIOiN" TO MARY. 243 

the Church loves Mary, — and must, — in order to be in 
harmony with the divine heart of Jesus. The measure 
of the Faith that adores Christ measures the Faith that 
honors Mary. And the measure of the love that springs 
from Faith in the Son of God measures the love that is 
given to His Mother Mary. 

Love is the beating heart of Faith, — the lifted look of 
Faithj — the wide, everlasting embrace of Faith, The 
heart of the Church beats towards Mary; — the Face of 
the Church is ever lifted in love's look to the Face of 
Mary ; — and the arms of the Virgin-Mother Church are 
clasped around the Mother of Jesus in an everlasting 
embrace. It cannot but be so. It is in the nature of 
things and in the super-nature of thin,gs that it should 
and must be so. 

The children of the true Faith, — not only the sinners 
but the saints, have announced to the world the glorious 
ignominy of their slavery to Mary. In the face of the 
world they hold up their chains, — Eosaries and Scapu- 
lars, — chains for their hands and chains for their necks. 
They openly exhibit the signs of their lofty degrada- 
tion, — they wear them in the brave pride of the Faith 
that defies the scorn of this world. They are medals, — 
golden, — silver, brass or of humbler materials made. 
But no matter. Her figure is graven on them, — or her 
name. That alone, — and is it not enough? — makes 
them precious. They are related to the Crucifix as 
Mary is related to Jesus. Wherever the Crucifix goes, — 
and where has it not gone ? — they follow. Not because 
the Crucifix absolutely needs them ; — but because the 
Crucifix lovingly wants them. What the Crucifix means 
for Christ, — they mean for Mary. They are a part of 
the adornments that enhance the beauty of the Church, — 
the Bride of the Lamb, 



244 ' A croav:n^ ron our queex. 

All round the world the Eosary chains are clanking. 
Ail round the world the scapulars are living their mys- 
terious hidden life out of the w^orld's but in heaven's 
sight. And all the earth over, the outward-w^orn medal 
reflects the rays of every sun in every clime. They are 
the marks of "The Legion of Honor'' in the army of 
Jesus Christ. 

Love wants nearness. Her pictures on the temple 
walls or hung in Christian homes, — and her statues on 
the altars are sweet and beautiful to the eyes of the 
Faith that loves her Son. 

But they are too far off. Love w^ants something 
nearer, — something to touch and hold and possess and 
wear. And if natural love has her own ingenuities, — 
supernatural love has her's as w^ell. Blessed the neck 
that hides the holy scapulars ! Blessed the hands that 
hold the blessed beads ! Blessed the heart beating back 
of the breast where shines the blessed medal ! Is it 
foolish? Well;— it is the folly of Faith. Is it blind- 
ness ? Let it be called so. It is the blindness of love. 
Is it superstition ? Well; — and in reverence we WTite 
it,— it is like the superstition of Christ Himself who 
wore and would only wear the seamless garment woven 
by His Mother's pure hands. 

If the world laughs at these signs of our Faith ;— why 
let it laugh,— poor blind thing that it is ; — for how can 
it understand the spirit of our Faith ? 

And if so-called Christians scorn us for what we do 
in Mary's honor (they doing nothing for her while they 
pretend to do every thing for Christ, her Son)— why let 
them scorn,— for scorn like their's does but simply show 
that we and our Holy Church are Mary-like — and there- 
fore Christ-like. 



FLOWER OF CATHOLIC DEVOTIONS' TO MARY. 245 

The inheritance of the saints is the contempt of the 
world without any belief and the scorn of those who only 
half-believe. Between non-believers and half-believers 
there is an alliance not openly proclaimed yet none the 
less hiddenly existing. For, the enmities between Satan 
and the woman, and " between his seed and her seed " 
find, — sad and shameful as it is to say it, — soldiers and 
standards and weapons not only in the Godless world, — 
but even in the camps of those who pretend to be the 
soldiers of Christ. So-called Christian soldiers! the 
banner of Mary waves over every word of Scripture. On 
its pure, white folds in red letters of blood is blazoned 
the name of Jesus. Now — tear — if you dare, — that ban- 
ner down, — trail it in the dust of the beliefless world's 
denial, or in the half-cold ashes where the flames of 
Faith once brightly glowed. Are you not traitors? 
Take heed, — and have a care! To betray Mary and her 
honor is to betray Jesus Christ Himself and His honor. 

Be on your guard. You may kiss Christ, as Judas 
did, with the kiss of a pretended love only to deliver 
Him into the hands of His enemies. And you may kiss 
your Scriptures where Mary's name is written (I wonder 
do you ?) with a kiss of Faith that falters and half-de- 
nies, and Avith no love at all, — thereby delivering the 
Mother of your Christ into the hands of unbelievers ! 
And you have done it. It is the sacrilege of your 
system. 

Never mind. Mary w- as not in the garden of Gethse- 
mane desecrated by the kiss of Judas. But she stood 
beside the cross of Jesus on Calvary, consecrated by His 
dying on it and her presence beneath it. You cannot 
drag her thence. Why,— the very Cross wdth the in- 
finite dead burden on it would go with her who came up 

21* 



246 A CIIOWK 70R OUR quee:n". 

to it Yf itli lier heart by sorrow broken. And Magdalen, 
who is crouching there, would even leave His feet and 
rise to defend the Mother whose prayers had helped to 
save her soul from ruin ; — and with Faith's divine wrath 
ablaze in her glorious eyes, and in tones ringing with 
the authority of an Apostle, — she would bid you begone. 
Or she might tell you v/here to find the tree, whereon, m 
the dark, the other traitor hung himself. . • • . 

Hard words these! Then let them be hard. 

The Church of Truth is built on a rock, firm, strong, 
moveless, — not soft enough to be splintered. Let other 
churches than ours, with their soft, shaky, shifting 
foundations, use soft words in their teachings. It be- 
comes them to do so. But it does not become the 
Church of Christ. 

Christ is King of the Church. Mary is Queen. Their 
united honors; — His Divine and Infinite, hers human, 
sinless, perfect, highest, — give the true tone to all true 
teaching. In the temple of God's truth there is nothing 
soft in the foundations, — in the pillars, — in the stones 
of the lofty walls, — in the loftier dome, — in the very 
cement that helps to hold the temple together. Nor in 
the voice that fills the temple with Faith's eternal ac- 
cents is there or can there be a falter or an uncertain 
tremulousness. Firm, strong, certain, true, — ringing as 
the clarion rings marshalling the ranks for the battle 
with falsehoods,— sounding as loud trumpets sound 
clear, triumphant in the hour of Jb'aith's victories and 
Truth's definitions, — are the voices of the leaders cf the 
hosts of the Lord. Jesus and Mary ! — Son and Mother ! — 
go sounding together down the long cross-bannered lines 
of the close-serried columns. 
•it was so from the dawn of the day of perfect Truth; 



FLOWER OF CATHOLIC DEYOTIO^T TO MARY. 247 

and it will bo so to the last Vespers of the day of 
perfect Faith. Adoration of Jesus necessarily implies 
Love of Mary. Love implies honor. Honor implies Devo- 
tion. Devotion means more than mere profession of Love 
and Honor of Mary's person and name. It has a higher 
meaning ? What ? 

Your own hearts feel and your own lips pronounce 
it ; — imitation of Mary's virtues. 

'' Imitate Mary " — do you doubtingly ask ? 

" Imitate Mary " — I certainly answer. 

Her privileges are beyond you. Her prerogatives 
are, in a true sense, like God's, incommunicable. Not 
so her virtues. You cannot touch the sun. It is too 
far off. But you can catch its rays and see and walk 
by their light. 

Mary's virtues are the rays shining out of her grace- 
filled, sinless heart. The rays reach sinners as well 
as saints. Every virtue that has a name she possessed 
in perfectness. And we can possess them all — though 
in imperfectness. She will surely help us. Is she 
not " The Eefuge of Sinners '^ as well ^ as " Queen of 
all the Saints?" Is she not "The Help of the 
"Weak"— as well as the "Strength of the Strong ?'' 

And she will aid us for the asking. 

What virtues do we need the most— the most just 
now— to give our living testimony to Jesus Christ? 

The answer is plain and simple. 

We need to be faithful in the possession and practice 
of those virtues, which the world without God, and 
Christians of only half- faith, are boldly denying or are 
forgetting or are almost losing in this our day and 
generation. 

What are these virtues ? First, -^the chief of all the 



248 A CROWK rOB OUR QUEEN. 

virtues, — Faith. The world has boldly ostracized divine 
Faith. And Christian Churches have chained Faith 
with the fetters of human opinion. To the world Faith 
is an outlaw, — in those so-called churches Faith is a 
slave. The world has reasoned away Eevelation. Science 
has found a Calvary on which to put to death the very 
name of God. Science is blaspheming still. Faith can 
wait, — and waiting pray : " Forgive them for they know 
not what they do.'^ 

Men calling themselves Christians have been trying 
to uncrowTi Christ by their efforts to uncrown His 
Holy Church. Their Faith grows weak as their human 
opinions groAV strong. 

Their teachers are not dogmatic. They have shuffled 
off, as if they were slavery's shackles, the bonds of 
Faith, to wear the manacles of man's opinions. And 
they think that they are free, confounding the " liberty 
of the children of God'' who believe all and are free, 
with truth's freedom, with the license of the children 
of men who believe what they please and so believing 
can never be free from human error. 

We in Holy Church in our times must confront 
the conspirators against Religion. 

How? By our Faith firm, practical, loyal. 

Christ is the object of. our Faith. Who ought to 
be our Model ? Whose Faith was first and firmest 
and fullest ? AVhose Faith was clearest and most 
certain and perfect ? — Whose ? You have pronounced 
her name — Mary's. 

It is an age whose idol is pride, — national pride,— 
race-pride,— individual pride, — pride of mind,— pride 
of heart, — pride of will. It laughs at the past and 
boasts of itself. It believes in bravado. It worships 



FLOWER OF CATHOLIC DEVOTIOK TO MARY. 249 

force. It points to its material prosperity as if that 
were the very consecration of its genius. It mocks at 
the very word — humility, — and looks down in scorn on 
the humble. 

To that pride we must oppose humility. 

And who our Model ? You have called her name, — 
Mary. " My soul doth magnify the Lord and my spirit 
hath rejoiced in God my Saviour; because He hath 
regarded the humility of His handmaid.'' They are 
lowly Avords graven on lofty gates through which the 
Son of God did enter this world. 

But why speak of her other virtues? 

Their story can never be fully told. 

All virtues ascend towards one, — their Queen. Her 
name divine Love, — love of God and love of man. 

The mystery of Mary's love for God and man is 
simply beyond the reach of thought. We bow in silence 
before it as we would bend in worship before a taber- 
nacle with its hidden miracle of Eucharistic love. 
Mary! Mother! Queen! we kneel in silence before 
thy altar. Our thoughts fly away from speech. Our 
souls are still, — too still for aught but a breathless, 
soundless prayer. Thou art listening to it down in 
our hearts! — Let us love Jesus Vvith Marv's love. 



Aspiration. 

Hail Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy! our life and 
sweetness and our hope! 

Prayer. 

Our Father who art in heaven, hallov/ed be thy 
name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth 



250 A CKOWK FOE OUR QUEEK. 

as it is in lieaven. Give us this day our daily bread ; 
and forgive ns our trespasses, as we forgive them who 
trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation; 
but deliver us from evil. Amen. 

Hail, Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; 
blessed art thou amongst women; and blessed is the 
fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, 
pray for us sinners, now, and at the hour of our death. 
Amen. 




<:-.© „JZ:^"<i^^2^ ^>^ 



rj^HE following Legends translated from the French, — and 
I as naively translated as they were simply written, will 
close; and with their child-like simplicity will crown the 
** Crown for our Queen." Legends, sometimes, are based 
on facts ;— but, perhaps, are more frequently, the beautiful 
imaginings of Faith. For, though Faith is the unquestioning 
assent of reason to truth, divinely taught — it, still, can, 
while believing, imagine many beautiful things which, like 
golden sun-lit clouds, float across the horizons of Truth ; — 
and make the skies of Faith so beautiful. May I say it? I 
think I may. Legends in unison with Truth are the poetries 
of Faith. Legends are to the heart somewhat what doc- 
trines are to reason. Irreligion has no legends; nor has 
Protestantism. We have. So,— just as they were written ;— 
and just as they have been translated by a child-like heart, — 
thev close and crown my humble work. 

A. J. R. 



f 

(251) 



252 A CKOWIir FOR OUR QUEE^. 



LEGEND OF TEE FAMILY OF TEE BLESSED VIRGJK 



^TOLLON also called Nathan, a virtuous Israelite, a descend- 
ant of the tribe of Levi and the priestly family of Aaron, — 
espoused in the first century before Christ a young Jewish 
maiden called Emerentiana. She was descended from the 
tribe of Juda and the royal race of David. They lived in 
Xazareth, a small town in lower Galilee beautifully situated 
on the summit of a hill. From their union blessed by 
Heaven three girls were born, — Mary, whose husband 
was Cleopha^!, and whose sons were those disciples of 
Jesus, called in Scripture ''brothers of Christ;" Sobe, 
mother of St. Elizabeth who was to receive in her old age a 
A isit from her young relative the Virgin Mary ; and lastly St. 
Anne destined by God to carry in her womb, as in a couch 
perfumed by roses and lilies, her whom He had chosen to 
become His Mother ! A great wonder attended the birth of 
Anne, and revealed to her parents the precious charge con- 
fided to their care and affection. A noble resident of Kaza- 
reth who was blind from his birth, inspired by God asked to be 
led to the child's cradle ; taking her two little hands in his 
own, he said in a trembling voice : '' Child of the Most High 
open my eyes that I may see the glories of heaven." His 
prayer was immediately gi*anted and the first object which 
met his ej^es was the sweet countenance of Anne smiling at 
his happiness. St. Anne espoused St. Joachim, like her of 
royal race. According to the prophecy the Messiah was to 
come from the tribe of Juda and the family of David. 
Joachim and Anne were called by Providence to realize the 
words of the oracles, in having for child the Mother of the 
Kedeemer. Anticipating the distinctive character of the law 
of grace, tlie care of the poor, and the ritual of the house of 
the Lord, Joachim and Anne had divided their fortune into 
three equal parts : one destined for the relief of the poor, 
the other for the temple to contribute to the grandeur of its 
feasts ; and with the third they lived very frugally. 



LEGE^'DS, 2d3 



LEGEND OF THE NATIVITY OF TEE BLESSED 

VIRGIN 



A PIOUS solitary ^vllOSc life was unknown to men living in 
a desert heard every year on the night of the eighth of Sej)- 
tember angelic harmonies comhig from heaven. Surprised 
at this miracle he prayed the Lord to reveal to him what was 
the meaning of this heavenly melod}-. An angel appeared to 
him and said : '^The immaculate Virgin Mother of God was 
born this very night, men forget but the angels celebrate her 
Nativity in heaven. * ' Since this secret vras given to the world 
the Catholic Church celebrates the eightli of September the 
day when the Virgin of Juda was born, and as that day is 
the Hebrew Sabbath it is not strange that Saturday has been 
consecrated in a special manner to Mary. Pious authors 
who have written the life of the Blessed Virgin do not agree 
as to the place of her birth. Some say she was born in 
Jerusalem, others in Nazareth in a house belonging to St. 
Anne's parents. However it may be, i:i that moment of 
ineffable joy Joachim and Anna were filled with gratitude, 
and a voice from heaven was heard saying: ''Blessed art 
thou in this world O my well-beloved ! a heavenly choir 
thrilled with transports of joy, assists at thy birth :— may the 
Holy Ghost repose in thee ! Heaven and earth will submit 
to thy power, and the angels will serve thee as their Queen.-' 
It is not without a profound mystery, writes a chronicler, that 
Mary appeared on earth at the time of year when the grapes 
begin to redden and ripen — and when the grateful laborer 
sees his hopes at last realized ; the vine whose sweet fruits 
are gathered in autumn — is it not Mary herself the sweet 
vintage giving joy to the world — expected by the patriarchs, 
announced by the prophets. On the anniversary of a loved 
mother children who love and respect then' x^arents offer her 
the double tribute of their gratitude and aHection. 

Let us never fail to give Mary the tender token of oiu* 
filial piety, and she will rejoice and reward her children. 



254: A CROWiT POR OUR QUEEK, 



LEGEND OF MARTS INFANCY, 



Sometime after the birth of the Blessed Virgin St. 
Joachim and St. Anne gave a banquet in their house at 
jSTazareth at which were present the priests and chiefs of 
the synagogue and temple. Mary was presented to the 
priests who called down on her all the blessings of heaven. 
Afterwards they called her by her name Mary^ which the 
angels had given her. 

St. Anne brought Mary to the temple and renewed her 
vow of consecrating her to the Lord when she would reach 
her third j'ear. Mary, enjoying all the fullness of her reason 
without showing aiiy outward sign, interiorly ratified the 
promise. At that instant a light was seen surrounding the 
mother and her child. Mary concealed all her privileges, 
appearing always like a little child, she never was impatient 
nor did she cry over trifles so common at her age, but in her hu- 
mility she concealed her admirable disposition, weeping often 
for the sins of men, in order to obtain their forgiveness and to 
hasten the coming of the Redeemer. Mary unlike all chil- 
dren was not deprived of the power of speech during the 
llrst months of her life, nevertheless she remained more than 
a year before uttering a word, and before using so dangerous 
a gift she entreated God to assist her, that she might not say 
anything to displease or offend Ilim. St. Bernard poetically 
calls her, ''The Immaculate Lily exhaling the odor of Hope." 

During this period of her life St. Anne would have the 
the Blessed Virgin stand beside her and holding in her laj) 
the Scriptures, would have Mary follow with her eyes her 
hand while she pointed out to her the w^ords of the Sacred 
Scriptures ; thus initiating the little Mary into their mysteries. 
Sculptors and painters have often produced in their art this 
tradition. The picture of the calm face of Anne and pure 
features of Mary awakens in our soul memories of childhood's 
first impressions. How priceless are the beautiful beliefs 



LrOEKDS. 255 

which bnng back to the memory only the days of candor 
and peace. Holy religion of childhood, the heart that is 
false to thee is alas ! guilty, but the heart that despises thee 
is a heart unhappy indeed ! 



LEGEND OF TEE PBESEKTATION OF MART IN 
THE TEMPLE OF JERUSALEM. 



The time of parting from their darling cliild having come, 
St. Joachim and St. Anne said to each other — "Let us go to 
the temple with our Mary and give her to God according to 
our promise. " Taking with them a few maidens of their tribe 
they departed. On their way to the temple they stopped to 
rest and Joachim pressing his darling child to his heart said 
to her with ineifable tenderness : '• My child I will never see 
thee more." The holy child had on a blue robe and mantle, 
her little arms and neck were covered with tlow^ers. Having 
arrived at the gate of the temple Mary witliout assistance 
mounted the fifteen stops which led to the house of God. 
Anne and Joachim watched her Avith anxiety, thinking that 
never again would their lonely hours be brightened by the 
presence of their sweet and gentle child. Mary was received 
by the high priest Zachary, who was to watch with so much 
care over the Yirgin of Juda. Joachim oifcred a lamb as 
sacrifice, and while the victim was being consumed and the 
smoke of the holocaust ascended heavenwards, Anne and 
Mary remained in a precinct of the temple reserved for 
w^omen. An altar was then erected and Mary knelt on the 
steps with Joachim and Anna. The priest cut off a few of her 
tresses and placed them in a thurible. The couple renewed 
the vow they had made of consecrating her to God. Mary then 
offered herself to God with suchfers^or that never since the be- 
ginning of the Avorld had there ever been so pure an oblation. 
Zachary placed on her head a veil, and leading her to a 
place in the temple where she was met by six maidens the 



256 A CROAYK FOR OUK QUEEiq". 

priest gave the child to one of the matrons of the temple and 
went away. Mary then turning towards her parents, and 
falling on her knees asked their blessing which they gave 
her. Joachim and Anna departed in great sorrow for their 
only child. The prophetess Anne presented Mary to her 
companions. At night Mary was led to the cell prepared for 
her — the one nearest to the Holy of Holies. The attendant 
retired leaving Mary alone with her God, alone with the angels 
watching near the sanctuary. She who was to become the 
immaculate sanctuary of the Divinity ; the Ark of the new 
alliance ; the virginal propitiatory from which the Lord was 
to announce his pardon to the guilty world. The cherubims 
cover her already with their wings and greet her as the 
'^ Mother of the Redeemer.*' 



LEGEND OF MARTS ESFOUSALS, 



The young maidens who were brought up in the house of 
God only remained until the age of fourteen years. The 
high priest would then solemnly announce to them this news ; 
and tell them to return to their parents to become faithful 
spouses and happy mothers after having been obedient and 
submissive maidens. All of Marj^'s companions who like her 
had attained that age obeyed the priest's order. Mary alone 
modestly declared she could not obey. The high priest 
knowing the vow she had made to the Lord found himself in 
the alternative of annulling a sacred engagement or of 
authorizing a usage against the custom of the Hebrews. 
Xot willing to decide such a question alone he convoked 
a council of the principal men of the people and the 
doctors of the Law. They all began to pray. Their High 
Priest went to the altar to be enlightened from on high. 
Suddenly a voice from the Propitiatory was heard saying : 
'*The oracle of Isaiah must be fulfilled. There will rise a 
branch from out the roots of Jesse and a flower will bloom 



LEGEKDS. SSy 

from the stem. Let all the family of David lay each their 
rod in the temple, and the one whose branch will bloom 
will be the chosen one to espouse the Blessed Virgin,'' 

The command of God was made known by the sound of 
trumpets ; heralds went all throuc^h the city proclaiming the 
command ; and rumor brought the tidhigs into the confines 
of Judea. All the young descendants of the family of David 
came to deposit their rods near the altar. They offered 
sacrifices to the Lord. But the next day none of the rods 
had blossomed. The high priest again consulted the God 
of light and truth. He was answered as the father of David 
was answered by the prophet Samuel: *'Here are not all 
your sons." Immediately new search was made and one 
named Joseph was found who had not appeared in the 
Temple with those of his tribe. 

The priests sent for him. Joseph came. When he was 
brought into the presence of the priests they gave him the 
testing rod on which they wrote his name ; it was then 
laid near the altar and the following day it was found covered 
with flowers. Mary was called, and she appeared in the 
midst of the assembly with her modest grace, her angelic 
beauty. On learning of the prodigy she adored the mys- 
terious designs of the Lord and as a sign of consent placed her 
pure hand in the hand of the poor artisan. What a moment 
for the holy patriarch, how unworthy he deemed himself, 
with what respect he received from the hands of the High 
Priest the Lily of Israel, and with what joy he heard from 
Mary that from her earliest infancy she had consecrated 
herself to God; he who had made a similar vow. Before 
leaving the temple, where she had spent such happy hours, 
she bade farewell to her companions, her superiors and the 
holy old priest Zachary. Mary left in sadness, but her 
sorrow was softened by the knowledge of accomplishing the 
will of God. 



358 A CROWDS" FOE OtJK QUEEK. 



LEGEND OF THE NATIVITY, 



In the vast empire governed by Augustus, the clashing of 
sworcls was heard no more. He had quelled seditions 
in Kome, and revolutions in the world. After waiting more 
than four hundred j-ears, God at last announced in low, 
solemn tones the word of eternal peace, and celestial mes- 
sengers were soon to sing the grand ''^Gloria in Excelsis Deo^ 
etin terra pax ^'''^ sublime summary of the religion that the 
God-man will give to the universe to redeem it. 

Mary enclosed some wearing apparel for the child Jesus 
in a coffer, which she carried with her to Bethlehem. Naza- 
reth, destined to possess so long the God hidden from its 
eyes, was not to see Him born. That honor was reserved for 
Bethlehem, the city of David, the smallest of all the towns 
in Judea, as the prophet Michaes had foretold. The Emperor 
of Rome in ordering a census of all Jiis subjects, was to be 
an unconscious agent in realizing the prophecy, foretold 
many centuries before, in bringing back to Bethlehem, 
whence they came, St. Joseph and the most holy Virgin. 

The journey lasted several days. The holy patriarch pro- 
cured a small animal used to fatigue and eating very little. 
It was bitter cold in the valleys, surrounded by mountains. 
The homes were few and uncomfortable, the road was filled 
with people, but the angels walked before them and light- 
ened by their pious hymns their sufferings. The holy 
travelers arrived at Bethlehem on Saturday at sunset. They 
sought in vain for lodgings, no one would receive them. 
Mary knew by revelation all these refusals, but to practice 
humility and patience, she followed her spouse from door to 
door. 

It was nine o'clock at night ; Joseph, not knowing where 
to direct his steps in this inhospitable town, went with Mary 
towards a grotto outside the walls ot the city, where shep- 
herds, during stormy days, would come and seek shelter 
As soon as they entered this miserable place, they went on 



LEGEJTDS. 25D 

their knees, thanking God for the double gift of poverty 
and humility wliich He deigned to give them. They both 
took a little food. The Blessed Virgin filled a crib with 
straw and hay on which the infant God was to rest. The 
beast of their travels and an ox that was in the stable were 
placed so as to warm by their breath that cold and damp 
couch. All these preparations finished, Saint Joseph retired 
to pray. The hours went by, and night had completed half 
of its course when the Saviour of the world was born. 
Mary wrapped Him in swaddling clothes, and after embrac- 
ing Him as her son she adored Him as her God. She then 
placed Him on the straw, when suddenlj^ the stable was 
filled with a marvellous light. Saint Joseph, contemplating 
his God in the form of a little child, wept tears of joy and 
kissed the little hands which seemed to open as if to 
caress him, Joseph and Mary are thus models of all real 
worshipers of Jesus; after them come the shepherds. 
Warned by the angels, they fly to the stable and pay to 
the new-born child their simple and humble worship ; they 
return full of joy to the care of their flocks, praising and 
blessing God for what they had heard and seen. And Mary 
was keeping all these things and treasuring them in her 
heart. 



LEGEND OF THE MAGL 



The birth of Christ so hidden and humble, was signalized 
by different wonders. At Jerusalem all the writings of the 
Saducees were scattered here and there through the temple. 
In Rome, one of the fountains which watered the city bore 
to the Tiber for a whole day wavelets of pure and limpid oil. 
A statue of Jupiter crumbled to dust. And the Emperor 
Augustus saw above the Capitolian Mount a woman bearing 
in ner arms a little child.' Three Magi who were watching 
and praying on Mount Victory, saw a new star in the 
heavens shining with wondrous light. They were descend- 



260 A CBOWK FOR OUR QUEEK. 

ants of Setli, and knew that a resplendent star would one day 
rise in the heavens to announce the hirth of the Saviour. 
On perceiving the prophetic sign they were filled with joy 
and announced the glad tidings to the other wise men Avho 
like them were awaiting the coming of a divine King. The 
happy Magi who were favored by the celestial vision were 
called Graspard, Melchoir, and Balthazar ; and though young 
they were renowned for their profound wisdom and know- 
ledge. The miraculous star, came shining nearer and nearer : 
and lo ! they saw in the midst of its rays a child of heavenly 
beauty bearing on its head in a halo of light the form of a 
cross. At the same time they heard these words : " Go to the 
country of Judea ; there you will find the King who has 
been promised, and who has just been born." The Magi 
descended the mountain and began their journey towards 
Palestine. The star preceded them. Mounted on the drom- 
edaries of Madian they carried to the Lord the riches of their 
countr5% When they reached Jerusalem the star disap^- 
peared. ''Where," they asked, ''is the new-born King of 
the Jews ; for we have seen His star in the East and we have 
come to adore Him." The priest opening the Book of the 
Prophets, said to them : ''In Bethlehem of Juda the Messiali 
is to be born." 

The ambitious Herod fearing the loss of his throne, exacted a 
promise from the Magi to return to Jerusalem and tell him 
where they had found the Child, that he also might go and 
adore Him. The Magi departed joyous and confident. The 
star which had guided them towards Jerusalem reappeared 
and led them to the place where they found the Child with 
Mary its Mother, Prostrating themselves before the Infant 
they adored Him, then opening their treasures they offered 
Him gold, frankincense and myrrh. The most Holy Virgin 
touched by their faith placed her son in the arms of Gaspard 
the oldest of the three : then taking the veil which enveloped 
her person, she gave it to him. The Magi bowed down, and 
their hearts were filled with gladness and gratitude for the 
Virgin's gift. 



LEGENDS. 261 



LEGEND OF THE PRESENTATION AND THE IN 
FANCY OF THE LORD, 



The time having come for Mary to perform the ceremony 
of Purification and to present her Son to the priests, the 
Holy Family left Bethlehem and went down to Jerusalem. 
The cold was so excessive that it made the Infant weep. 
AU'ected by His sufferings, the Blessed Virgin used the power 
God had given her over creatures and changed the rigorous 
weather into a mild one for her infant Son — but she never 
made use of this supernatural power in her own favor. Ar- 
rived at the Holy City, she enters the temple with Saint 
Joseph, carrying in her arms her Divine Son, that celestial 
treasure,, all the wealth and happiness of the world. "0 
Eternal Father," says she, '' Creator of the universe. Behold 
thy Divine Son and well-beloved, whom you have made my 
own. I give Him to thee now to accomplish thy divine will." 
She then gave to the priests the five sheckels demanded by 
law, — fruit of the labor of Saint Joseph, and two doves, 
the gift of poverty. The old man Simeon had received in- 
teriorly the promise of not dying before seeing with his own 
eyes the consolation of Israel. Warned by the spirit of God 
he entered the temple at the same time that Mary was enter- 
ing with the Infant. The dazzling rays which emanated 
from that glorious circle attracted the attention of the people, 
and whilst the other witnesses of that scene remained un- 
moved, Simeon is not mistaken by this marvel and recog- 
nizes in the child the desire of his old age, andtheKest of his 
heart. He approaches with delight the Blessed Virgin, who 
placed the Infant in his arms. He then recites in a touching 
voice the hymn Nunc Dimitis^ the last which was to come 
from his lips. Simeon then predicted to Mary that her soul 
would be pierced with a sword of sorrow ! These words, 
which were a prophecy of Calvary and its unutterable sor- 
rows, begin the martyrdom of the celestial Queen by lifting 
the veil which hid from her view the most heart-rending 



262 A CROw:sr for our queeit. 

mysteries. Hereafter the gentle Mother of the Saviour will 
have to suffer. The prophetess Anna, who had been Mary's 
directress, was also inspired to go to the temple at that hour 
of peace. On recognizing the gentle Virgin and at sight of 
the miraculous light which surrounded the divine Infant, her 
eyes filled with tears, and after having adored her Lord, 
animated with a holy enthusiasm she began to speak of His 
glory to all those who were expecting the redemption of 
Israel. Kevertheless Mary in her humility shone like a celes- 
tial rose. Saint Joseph then distributed the presents which 
the Magi had given them. One half he gave for the decora- 
tion of the temple, and the other half destined for the rearing 
of the poorest maidens brought up in the house of the Lord. 
The poor had already received theirs. All which being accom- 
plished, the Holy Family went back to Nazareth. . Jerusa- 
lem, the grand, the populous, the noisy cit5^ was not to be- 
come the home of the poor artisan whom Jesus was to call 
Father. The days and months went by rapidly in that soli- 
tary and blessed home. After having enjoyed the return of 
spring, wi'iter came, and with it the anniversary of the birth 
of Christ. The wind blew with violence, the most-holy Vir- 
gin, holding her child on her bosom was warming Him with 
lier maternal breath. Suddenly two angels appeared in 
Mary's humble home : '' It is the first year of the Kedeemer's 
birth," said they witli their melodious voice, ''we come to 
bring Him an offering," and prostrating themselves before 
the Child they offered Ilim a small cross. His Mother grew 
pale on seeing this sign, but Jesus received it smiling. Im- 
mediately the walls of the holy house of ]N'azareth shone like 
a palace of lieaven, and the two angels slowly reascended 
towards the empyrean amid a shower of lilies and roses of 
fire, which in falling were consumed like burnt incense at the 
feet of the Virgin, 



lEGEisDS, 363 



SOJOURN OF THE HOLY FAMILY IN EGYPT. 



Syka was the first of the towns of Egypt which the 
Holy Famiy entered. The descendants of Pharaoh who 
lived in the time of Joseph, had built a temple in which 
were all the gods, objects of their superstitious worship. 
The exiles sought shelter under the portico of the majestic 
edifice; but hardly had the child Jesus placed His foot 
in the temple than all the idols, by a sudden impulse, fell 
down with a great noise. The i)riest who had charge of 
the temble had them replaced on their pedestal but the 
following night they fell down again. This commotion 
was spread tliroughout Egypt, whose soil was covered by 
the " debris " of the mutilated idols. It is thus that carried 
in the arms of its Mother the Infant God triumphed over 
the devil and strewed on this pagan earth a harshest rich 
with blessings, which will bloom in silence, peopling this 
earth with angels whose life will recall the life of the angels 
of heaven. 

Leaving Syra, our holy travelers advanced towards the 
East, in the interior of the countrj^ where the inhabitants 
of a burgess offered them hospitality, according to the patri- 
archal ^traditions, v/hich they had faithfully continued to 
practice. The family which welcomed them to their hearth 
was celebrating a wedding; but joy, the faithful hand- 
maiden of all such feasts, vras not seen on the face of the 
partakers. Beneath the crown of roses which decked her 
young brow, the bride had felt a strange sensation. Her 
tongue refused to articulate a sound, she had suddenly 
become dumb. The bright smiles had been replaced by 
stupor and horror on the lips of the guests. 

But this afflicted vroman had drawn near to M-.iry. She 
was contemplating with an ineffable look of tenderness the 
marvellous child sleeping on the bosom of the stranger. 
His ineffable grace, His innocent charms moved deeply 
every heart. Taking the infant Jesus from the arms of 
the Virgin, she embraced It with respect and tenderness. 



264 A CROWK FOR OUR QUEE^^ 

and while the (laughter of Egypt bestows on the Eternal 
Word these demonstrations of love her tongue is loosed, 
she suddenly recovers her voice and speech. 

In another town of Egypt, a chUd who was possessed by 
the devil, took from the child Jesus a robe which he had and 
placed it on his head. Immediately the demon left the 
pagan child. His father being present said : ''It Ls possible 
that this child may be the Son of God, because since he has 
been here all of our idols have been overthrown." The 
poor exiles lived then in Ileliopolis. The wretched hovel in 
which they lived is often pointed out to travelers. 



LEGEND OF TEE RETURN FROM EGYPT, 



Before tlie massacre of the innocents, St. Elizabeth hid 
her son John the Baptist in a grotto whose entrance could 
not be discovered by the agents of Ilerod. The angels 
revealed his place of security to the Blessed Virgin, who 
gave thanks to the Lord for it. 

The hour of Divine vengeance was near for King 
Ilerod. He was seized with a violent fever, worms 
gnawed his entrails, causing him horrid pains; he uttered 
despairing shrieks ; his whole being was a prey to unutter- 
able suffering. He died from so much tortures, carrying to 
his grave the curse of the Jews and- the indelible stain of 
innocent blood. An angel then appeared to St. Joseph 
telling him his exile was ended. The holy patriarch w^ent 
immediately to Mary and announced the glad tidings. 

They gave their tools and few articles to Jesus to distribute 
among the poor of their neighborhood, and many wei'e the 
words of comfort and hope spoken to them by their friends 
when bidding them good-bye. Mary mounted a beast similar 
to the one that had brought her into Egypt. She held 
the child Jesus in her arms — and Joseph walked before them. 

When they arrived at the border of the desert they met 
St. John Iho Blip' it, clothed in his garment of camel's 



LEGENDS. 265 

hair. He shared some roots Avith them whieh was all he 
could offer them for their meals. The precursor's joy was 
indescribable on seeing the child Jesus, but it w^as of short 
duration. Immediately after resting a few hours the holy 
travelers crossed the Jordan leaving St. John in the desert. 
He was scarcely eight years old and lived alone in the desert, 
his father and mother being botli dead. 

St. Joseph had taken the road to Bctlilehem, thinking to 
continue to Jerusalem and live there ; but an angel had 
warned him that Archelaus, a son of Herod, reigned in Juda. 
He continued on to Xazaretli which was governed by another 
man. When they returned to their country the Infant Jesus 
mingled with all the children. One day helping St. Joseph 
with his work the Divine Child cut his hand— the w^ood was 
red with His blood. The Blessed Virgin was called out to 
Him, The Child reassured her with a sweet smile, but she 
perceived a small cross on the wood He had been cutting. 
She turned away her head to hide tlie tears that silently fell 
down her pale cheeks. The cross is a present of the Child 
Jesus to us, and when He gives it to us dyed with His blood, 
cut by Himself — we ought to receive it with gratitude, 
embrace it with joy, — as being a token of Christ's sufferings 
and of an eternal love. 



JESUS LOST AND FOUND, 



The grand feast of the Pasch brought back every year Joseph 
and Mary to Jerusalem. Being twelve years of age Jesus 
accompanied by His parents and friends wxnt to celebrate 
this great day. The days of this feast over, Mary and 
Joseph with a few of their companions returned to iSTazareth. 
According to the Hebrew custom the men walked together 
and the women followed with their children. Joseph think- 
ing that Jesus had remained with His mother did not feel 
uneasy at His absence, and Mary not seeing Him near her, 
thought that the Jesus-God had gone with Joseph. At night 

23 



^66 A CE0V7K roR OUR quee:^. 

they all stopped at the same place to rest. The Blessed 
Virgin on seeing St. Joseph asked immediately for the 
child Jesus. Joseph was troubled at that question, and 
answered in an anxious voice: ''I thought He was with 
you?" Perceiving their sorrow, His parents looked for 
Him among the crowd that was with them ; not finding Him 
they went hack to Jerusalem asking every one they met if 
they had seen the Child Jesus. Mary would say describing 
Him, ''His beautiful hair falls to His shoulders. His features 
are faultless. His smile angelic and His look divine." ''Poor 
mother ! " they would answer looking at her with compassion, 
"perhaps later you will find your Son so gentle and beautiful." 
The two travelers met in Jerusalem a woman who told them 
she had seen such a Child asking her for alms, and after- 
wards saw Him in the hospital consoling the poor and the 
sick. Mary went to the temple thinking to find Him there 
and saw Him with the doctors of the law conversing and 
propounding tiie most difiicult questions with great wisdom, 
and astonishing the people with His answers. Mary looked 
at her Son and with a low plaintiveness spoke to Him the 
words written in the Gospel. Preserving the majesty of 
God Jesus answered in a grave and solemn voice : " Why do 
you seek me ? Did you not know that I must be about my 
Father's business." 

He followed His parents, and when Mary found herself in 
a quiet place she fell on her knees before Him and asked His 
blessing. Jesus then consoled her, and told her more fully 
than ever before the mysteries of His heart. 



DEATH OF ST. JOSEPH, 



The Blessed Virgin seeing that her chaste spouse was 
about to die asked her Divine Son to aid her to soothe his 
last moments. The Child Jesus promised her not only to 
assist him in his agony but to raise him to such a rank in 
heaven that the angels would be struck with admiration. 
Assisted by these tvro lights, Jesus and Mary, the last hours of 



LEGENDS. 267 

Joseph resembled more the dawn of a new life than the 
evening of a life passing away. 

Before sleeping the sleep of the just Joseph went once 
more to the temple to pray. ''Merciful God," he prayed, 
''author of all consolation, prostrate at Thy feet I adore 
Thee, my life is passing away, sovereign Judge of mortals, 
hear my last prayer. Illuminate tlie path that must lead me to 
Thee and send your angels to take my soul and carry it to 
the bosom of Abraham," 

Thus did Joseph pray, when he returned to !N'azareth he 
died in the arms of Jesus and Mary. Jesus on seeing him 
whom He had so lately called father lying still and cold, ten- 
derly embraced him. Mary prepared him for the burial, 
and the next day the holy remains of the descendant of the 
Kings of Juda were deposited in a vault given him by a 
wealthy man. He was not embalmed like the rich Hebrews, 
with aromas of great price and perfumes from Arabia, but 
he carried into his tomb a glorious immortality. Many Saints 
believe that the holy body of Joseph, sanctified before his 
birth, did not undergo corruption, but was reunited to his 
soul when Jesus ascended into Heaven. ■ 



MATER ADMIRABILm 



In a convent situated on the Pincian liill in Rome, there is 
a little sanctuary in the midst of the cloister containing a 
beautiful fresco painting of the Virgin. The pilgrim who 
comes to pray before this beautiful representation of the 
Maiden of the temple of Jerusalem feels a religious calm 
steal over him which seems to emanate from this graceful 
image. The Virgin is sitting down weaving linen ; near her 
to the right is a distaff and on the left is a vase containing a 
lily whose fragile form seems to bend towards Maiy. That 
lily seeks Mary, she raises her eyes in order to look upon iti. 
beauty, and she inhales its virginal perfume. 



268 A CROWINr FOR OUPv QUEEN. 

Here in a few words is the origin of Mater AdmirahiliSy 
which title she lias merited by the wonderful prodigies which 
have happened at the foot of this painting. It was in the 
month of May» 1844, during the nuns- recreation to whom 
belongs this beautiful monastery, whdst they were celebrat- 
ing with great pomp the grandeurs and mercies of Mary 
(tlien a great custom in Eomc), the superioress was called 
away to the parlor. On seeing her place vacant one of the 
nuns exclaimed: '^xYh ! if the Blessed Virgin could come and 
take her place and preside at our recreation." At that 
moment an artist who liad come to Mount Trinity to finish 
her studies in painting fixed lier ej^es on a recess in the wall 
opposite to the place occupied by the superioress. She savv^ 
in a moment by a flash of genius the work she was to paint 
with such perfection. '*Do you wish me," said she, "to 
make the Blessed Virgin come in the place of our mother? " 
''Yes, yes," was echoedbyall, ''let the Blessed Virgin descend 
and come into our midst I " The first of June the artist com- 
menced her work, whicli was to be completed by the middle of 
July — but alas ! instead of the lily of the valley which the 
artist had promised, they saw with horror an illuminated 
figure draped in a black robe and a yellow veil. Tliis horri- 
fied all those who were admitted to judge of the work. That 
appearance was caused by the fresh lime upon which the 
picture was painted. The poor artist herself recoiled with 
horror. When the drapery was removed which had con- 
cealed the painting for three weeks, and they saw the 
Madonna in all her innocent beauty, cries of joy were heard. 
Later the Sovereign Pontiff Pius IX prayed before the Matey^ 
Admirahilis and solemnly blessed the painting. That bene- 
diction brought on so many miracles that the Madonna 
became a place of pilgrimage where we learn from Mary the 
secret of self-abnegation, humility and devotion. 



LEGENDS. 269 



LEGEND OF MARY'S TRIALS. 



THE; bright young j-ears which came one by one to crowTi 
the Virgin blessed with the first flowers of maidenhood, 
increased the infirmities of her parents. St. Joachim felt the 
presentiment of sorrow and prepared himself by many vir- 
tuous acts to end worthily his long career fraught with so 
many beautiful virtues. >Yhen his end drew near he sent 
for Mary; she left the temple and came to Xazareth. Slie 
had just completed her eleventh year and for the first time 
since her entrance in the temple she went to visit her 
parents. But that joy was troubled by the pain of knowing 
that she w^as to see her father only to bid him a last adieu. 
Joachim embraced her tenderly and lifting his drooping 
hands, he placed them on her head. At that moment the 
Patriarch saw the angels surrounding tlieir glorious Queen 
and guarding her. In the transport of his gratitude the 
happy old man commenced a hymn of thanksgiving but it 
died away on his lips. Calmly he passed away. After help- 
ing her mother to render the last services to the dead, she 
returned to the temple weeping. A year after she returned 
to Nazareth to receive her mother's dying blessing. The 
Blessed Virgin predestined to become by excellence the 
mother of orphans, was to be an orphan herself in order to 
know the inexpressible sadness of those who have no parents 
to guide and support them. AVhen she returned to the tem- 
ple the holy priest Zachary (spouse of St. Elizabeth) received 
her with tenderness and promised her to be a father to her. 
Mary bowed her head in gratitude and promised to obey him 
in all things. The demon jealous of the great virtue which 
distinguished Mary, and not able to make her commit the 
least sin, breathed the spirit of jealousy into the liearts of 
her companions. Under that fatal influence they reproached 
her bitterly for imaginary faults and succeeded in turning 
against her some of the priests of the temple. Mary listened 
gently to the reproofs of her superiors ; she opposed only 

83* 



270 A ckow:n" foe our queeit. 

meekness and silence to these unjust accusations, and hum- 
bling herself before God she prayed for those Avho accused 
her. The demon vanquished by this heroic patience aban- 
doned his work ; the hmocence of Mary was proclaimed and 
the young maidens called her Queen of Virgins, when sud- 
denly an angel descended into the midst of the maidens 
saying: "The words you have just uttered will not be 
meaningless, they will be the fullilling of the prophecy.'' 
At sight of the heavenly messenger, the young maidens filled 
with fear, fell prostrate. When they rose up the angel was 
gone but Mary knelt in peaceful prayer. 



JOAN OF AEG AND THE DIVINE EUCHARIST, 



Joan op Arc, the humble shepherdess, the gentle victim, 
the heroic martyr, had a most tender and innocent devotion 
to Mary. The greatest pleasure of her infancy was to make 
crowns for our ''Lady of Domremy." 

Nothing prepares us to receive worthily the Blessed Euchar- 
ist as devotion to the Lord's Mother. When Joan arrived at 
the age in which she began to understand the divine gifts she 
prepared herself by fervent prayer to make her first Com- 
munion worthily; and it left in her pure soul a memory 
of peace that never passed away. Henceforth the Holy 
Eucharist became the sun of her 3'oung life and the supreme 
strength of her last moments. See the heroine advancing 
towards Orleans with an army composed of only four or five 
thousand men to rescue that faithful city from the English 
besiegers. In the morning Joan's soldiers arranged an altar 
in the camp ; and under the dew of heaven, before the 
kneeling troops the angel of France received that day in 
Holy Communion the contract of her mysterious alliance* 
She breaks through the enemy's ranks, she pursues them, 
forces them to admit their defeat ; yet not even then does the 
heroine lose anything of her piety and fervor even in the 



LEGENDS. 271 

midst of carnage. She is seen mingling with the children in 
the Church of the Franciscans going to the Holy Table and 
receiving her Adorable Lord, Joan after saving France by 
victories was doomed to become an innocent victim and to 
suffer an awful martyrdom. 

Her love for the Eucharist far from weakening when she 
was bound in chains only increased. Vainly does she entreat 
the Judges to allow her to go to Mass and receive Com- 
munion. Nothing is more touching than to see the poor 
captive kneeling near the church door before which she has 
to pass to go to the tribunal. The door remains closed, but 
her faith penetrates the walls and her soul unites itself with 
the God of the Tabernacle. The most unjust of sentences 
condemns the heroic young maiden to be burnt alive as a 
heretic and apostate ; her whose faith was so vivid and pure* 
What does she ask her executioners at that last moment, a 
respite, a moment's grace ? No ! no ! What she entreats, 
what she begs with heart-rending words is for the Holy 
Eucharist. When at last she receives Him at her last hour, 
her face is illumined by a heavenly light and Joan receives in 
this supernatural union with her Jesus in the Sacred Host 
grace and strength to die resigned. Brought to the public 
square she is bound to her funeral pyre. It is lighted by the 
cruel executioners. The flames ascend, ascend ! The mo- 
ment she feels the scorching fire the poor victim shudders 
and asks for some holy water. AVater, water, she cries ! 
It was the cry of nature and it vrsis her last. Heaven opens 
to receive her ; her Calvary becomes a Thabor^ and from that 
temple of fire a voice pure like that of an angel is heard 
saying— ''My saints have not deceived me, my mission came 
from God." The martyr then gave a last dying look towards 
the image of her crucified Saviour ; then drooped her virgin 
head! She gave one cry-^''/e5Z(5/" All was over. • • . 
The pure soul of Joan had flown to Heaven* 



273 A CROWK FOR OUR QUEEN". 



LEGEND OF OUR LADY OF L0UBDE8. 



We find at Lourdes a little child very simple, knowing 
nothing but how to say her Kosary, which she was always 
repeating at all hours whilst tending her sheep, such are the 
instruments God loves to use when he wishes to create won- 
ders, because their humble weakness does not obscure His 
divine transparency. It was Thursday, the eleventh of Feb- 
ruary, 1858. It was bitter cold at the Soubiron's (Berna- 
dette's parents.) Her father w^as a miller at Lourdes, and 
her mother attended to their household, the fireplace had no 
fire in it, the meal hour was past, and there was no wood to 
prepare anything to eat. The mother says to Mary her 
second daughter, "go and get some wood on the banks of 
the Gave." Bernadette asked her mother permission to go 
with her sister and Joan Abadie their little neighbor. They 
descended to the prairie which extends below the city fol- 
lowing the course of the current, — Bernadette less active and 
w^eaker than the others lingers in the rear. Arriving at 
Massabielle's grotto she thought she heard a noise, suddenly 
a gust of wind swept past her with irresistible power. It is 
doubtless a storm thought the child, but the impetuous 
rolling of that noise continued, and raising her head, she 
remains, spellbound, transfixed, dazzled by the sight w^hich 
met her eyes and fell on both knees. The grotto" before 
which Mary and Joan w^ere picking wood, in an excavation 
in the form of a recess which crowned the rock, was standing 
in the midst of a celestial light, a lady of dazzling beauty ! 
her veil and robe were as white as snow, her girdle half 
knotted around the body was the color of the heavens, and 
on each of her feet which reposed on a rock, bloomed a mysti- 
cal golden rose, an alabaster rosary hung between her crossed 
hands, but her lips remained immovable. Instead of saying 
the rosary the Queen of Virgins seemed to listen to the 
immortal echo of the Angelical salutation and the music of 
Bernadette's prayers who being magnetized, dazzled, com- 
menced to recite humbly her rosar5^ When she came to the 



LEGEis'DS. 273 

last Gloria Pairi the apparition disappeared. The child 
went home very nervous, and the other children had not seen 
or heard anything. Her mother listened to her story, fear- 
ing that perhaps she was the dupe of an illusion. Neverthe- 
less, the next day she consented to the child s entreaties to 
return to the grotto. The apparition came again, the child 
obeying the advice of her companions, threw some holy 
water on the apparition — to be certain it was no demon. 
But the Virgin approached nearer to the grotto smiling on 
Bernadette, she fell on her knees and taking lier rosary she 
recited them with angelical fervor. When she finished, the 
apparition disappeared. The young visionary returned to 
the grotto on the ISth February accompanied by two pious 
ladies of Lourdes. The Blessed Virgin appeared again and 
asked her to come to the grotto during fifteen consecutive 
days. Bernadette promised her to do so, and the Blessed Vir- 
gin promised her not happiness in this world but in the other. 
The child had to overcome many difficulties, to bear many 
trials, but she kept her promise, and every time she went to 
the grotto she was followed by a curious crowd, who w^ere 
anxious to see that child of earth, who, when transfigured by 
prayer, resembled an angel; the apparition was seen by 
Bernadette alone. 

The august Queen was preparing a new surprise for her 
protegee. On the 23d of February she called her by name 
and confided a secret to lier which concerned only herself. 
^'Now," she added, '' you will tell the priest to have a chapel 
built here." After having said these words she disappeared, 
and poor little Bernadette felt very sorry and her face lost 
its angelic look. Mary's little ambassadress w^ent without 
loss of time to the pastor of Lourdes. lie, wishing to test 
her words, asked as a proof that a twig on which the Blessed 
Virgin placed her foot should bloom. The next day Berna- 
dette told the Blessed Virgin of this ; the Apparition smiled, 
and in answer to her only confided another secret. Some 
time after this, to the great astonishment of the multitude, 
they saw Bernadette walking on her knees repeating these 
words: "Penance, penance!" As for the rose tree it re- 
mained sterile . Mary was reserving a greater wonder to prove 



274 A CROW]^ FOB CUE quee:n". 

her appearance in those unknown regions. The Virgin ap- 
peared a fourth time to the child, revealed a third and last 
secret, and said to her : — '' Go and drink, wash yourself in the 
fountain, and eat the grass w^hich grows in the grotto." The 
child directs her steps towards the river Gave, but the hand 
of the Apparition points to the right of the grotto i the same 
barren place where on the eve Bernadette had walked on her 
knees. The child obeys, but finding no trace of water digs the 
soil withher lingers and nails, the hole fills with muddy water. 
Bernadette feels sick at sight of the water, nevertheless she 
obeys, drinks of the water and eats the grass growing at the 
foot of a rock. All these things being accomplished the Vir- 
gin cast a look of satisfaction on the child and disappears. 

Tlie next day Bernadette went to the grotto accompanied 
by an immense crowd, but the most Holy Virgin did not 
appear. This was the second time that Bernadette was 
deprived of her presence, thougli the gentle sovereign was 
not present her work progressed and the fountain impelled 
from the mysterious depths hy an invisible force comes 
bubbling on the soil to the surprise of the dazzled multitude. 
Whilst each one commented in their own w^ay about these 
marvels, a laborer, who had lost the sight of his right eye, 
came to the fountain and washed himself in the w^ater and 
immediately regained his sight. This first miracle was fol- 
lowed by many others. The fifteen visits to the grotto were 
ended, and yet on the 2oth of March Bernadette went again. 
She had a presentiment of the joy which was reserved for 
her. Arrived at the rock of Massabielle the little visionary 
fell on her knees, the apparition showed itself to her 
charmed looks, just as ever an ineffable liglit is seen about 
her whose splendor is without limit, whose gentleness is 
infinite. Bernadette, contemplating her in ecstacy, asks her 
three times : '^ Madam, I pray you tell me whom are you and 
what is your name." At the third question of the child the 
apparition opens its arms and inclines a little to the earth to 
show to the world her virginal hands filled with blessings. 
Crossing them again with incomparable fervor she pro- 
nounces those solemn words—''/ am the Immaculate Con- 
ception,'^'^ Having said these words she disappears in a 



LEGE>^DS. 275 

luminous cloud and the child finds herself witli the crowd in 
front of a lonely rock. But the crowd soon knelt on these 
rugged stones sanctified by Mary^s presence. A beautiful 
statue of the Apparition has been placed in the rustic recess 
where the Blessed Virgin appeared to the child. 



LEGEND OF THE IDIOT OF THE WOODS. 



Among the legends which are said of Marj^ there is per- 
haps none so touching as the history of Salalm called the 
idiot of the w^oods. He was idiotic but of a holy idiocy which 
has a place in paradise. It is believed that in the beginning 
of the XIY century w^as born a being frail, sickly and poorly 
endowed by nature, fortune also frowmed on him, his 
parents were poor country people who lived off the fruits of 
their labor, they dwelt in a hovel situated in Low^er Brittany, 
not very far from the town of Lesleven. When their child 
was old enough to attend school they sent him to the neigh- 
boring ^dllage, but all he learnt to remember were these two 
words, ^^Ave Maria.'^'' His parents died leaving him penni- 
less; he begged liis bread from the people and lived in a 
wood near a fountain shaded by a large oak tree. It was at 
the foot of this tree that Salalin stretched on the ground 
w^ould sleep. Although very ignorant he was very pious, 
and every morning he went to Lesleven to hear Mass, and 
whilst the priest was raising the sacred Host during the ele- 
vation he repeated ceaselessly '"''Ave Maria,^'' On coming out 
of church he would asli for alms, saying in his peculiar 
language, '' Salailn would eat bread if he had some, ''Ave 
Maria.^ '' The children v/ho heard liim continually repeat- 
ing the same words would run after him crying out, ''Salalin 
the fool," but the older ones w^ould give him in the name of 
God the nourishment he so much needed. He would then 
go to his woods, and seated by the fountain v/ould saturate 
his bread in the w^ater and at each mouthful would repeat 
''''Ave Maria,''' Sometimes he would get up on his tree and 



276 A CEOWX FOR OUK QUEEX. 

swinging himself to and fro on its branches vrould inces- 
santly repeat, ^^Ave Maria^^'^ and the neighboring echoes 
would answer the blessed refrain of i^oor Salaun ^''Ave 
Maria.''^ In w^inter he braved all the inclemencies of the 
weather and never left his retreat. A few charitable per- 
sons, touched with his sufferings, offered him an asylum hi 
their house, but he w^ould never accept. He was never heard 
to utter one complaint ; never w^as offended at the injuries 
he would receive ; never would steal, and always looked con- 
tented. The wolves and wild animals which roamed the 
forest never tried to molest him. The all-powerful Virgin 
whose name was always on his lips chained their sanguinary 
instincts. After living forty years that solitary life he fell 
sick. As he did not appear at his accustomed iDlace in 
church, the people of Lesleven went to his retreat in search 
of him and found him by his fountain. They begged him to 
let them carry him to their house where he would be nursed, 
but all their entreaties he refused, declaring that he would die 
where he had lived, but he asked them to send him the pas- 
tor of Lesleven to hear his confession. The good priest came 
immediately. After piously confessing all his sins poor Salahn 
gave his pure soul to the Blessed Virgin whom he had so 
often invoked and slept in the Lord. He was buried with 
great simplicity, but wonderful to say some time after his 
death the people saw a beautiful lily all in bloom growing on 
his grave, bearing on each petal the words ^'Ave Maria.''' The 
new^s spread far and wide, and counts, barons, ladies, simple 
villagers all came to contemplate the beautiful flower. But 
after the lily had bloomed its brightest it began to fade, then 
every one wished to see how the lily grew\ Pushing aside 
the clay from around the plant they discovered that its roots 
rested in the mouth of the fool Salaun. The duke of Brittany, 
hearing of this surprising fact, ordered a chapel built near the 
fountain under the name of ^'Our Lady of Folgoet, or 
The Fool of the Woods." This forest sanctuary became a 
place of frequent pilgrimages. 



THE EKD. 



f>^ 



\ 1- 



/61 







', %- 

■ ^. # -^ 

• . ^ '7» 

' . /• , -vi y* ',.- 







Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: Jan. 2006 

PreservatioiiTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 

1 1 1 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township, PA 16066 
(724) 779-21 It 



